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Paris: French commuters dusted off old bikes and aired their walking shoes yesterday in anticipation of a transport strike that is set to last for days and could become the biggest the country has seen in more than 10 years.
With several hours left before public transport workers launched their protest, President Nicolas Sarkozy, his reputation as a tough-minded reformer at stake, again pledged not to retreat from his plan to level their special pension rights in line with those of other French workers.
"I will pursue these reforms to the end," he told the European Parliament. "Nothing will blow me off course."
Major test
National rail and Paris public transport workers begin their rolling walkout yesterday evening in protest against Sarkozy's plan, a key item in his economic reform programme.
With other powerful groups, including civil servants, energy workers and students, due to hold their own protests against various reforms in the next week, Sarkozy faces the first major test of his presidency.
Public support
Opinion polls indicate most French people back Sarkozy.
"Victory or the end of Sarkozyism. It is in those terms, with great risks for itself, that the ruling power describes the first large social conflict facing it," the left-wing, generally anti-Sarkozy, newspaper Liberation said in an analysis.
Sarkozy has repeatedly said the door remains open to talks, and Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand was due meet a delegation from the influential CGT trade union at 1515 GMT, less than four hours before the first transport workers were to go on strike.
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