'Black Tuesday' strike cripples French transport PARIS (Reuters) =97 Planes, trains and buses across France ground to a halt,= =20 schools shut down and news stands were empty on Tuesday as trade unions=20 mobilised a mass one-day protest against planned state pension reforms.=20 Dubbed "Black Tuesday" by the local media, more than a hundred=20 demonstrations will take place throughout the country to protest the=20 conservative government's plans to make people pay more and for longer into= =20 their pension schemes. France's DGAC aviation authority said it expected=20 four in five flights to be grounded. France's national airline, Air France,= =20 said it would run all its long-haul flights, but cancel two-thirds of=20 national and medium-distance services. Other carriers, including British=20 Airways, also cancelled flights and morning cross-Channel traffic between=20 Calais and Dover was halted. Two-thirds of mainline services were cancelled= =20 by state railway company SNCF, even though its workers will not be directly= =20 affected by the government's plans. The strike is a major test of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's=20 year-old premiership, but the government has kept up tough rhetoric in the= =20 face of the walkout. "Today, no one contests the necessity of reforms,"=20 Civil Service Minister Jean-Paul Delevoye told France 2 television,=20 affirming Raffarin's vow last week that France could not allow itself to be= =20 governed by the street. Asked by Reuters on Tuesday if the government would= =20 pursue reforms to the pension system despite the strikes, Finance Minister= =20 Francis Mer, arriving in Brussels for a meeting of EU ministers, said=20 simply: "Certainly." The Paris transport authority said most metro lines=20 were completely closed. With only a fifth of buses running, commuters=20 either formed long queues for taxis or took advantage of the bright=20 sunshine to walk, cycle or skate to work. Teachers joined the 24-hour=20 stoppage, forcing some schools to shut. The largest primary and nursery=20 school teachers union said up to 85 percent of its members would strike. AGE CRUNCH Workers are protesting over government plans aimed at shoring up a=20 state-sponsored pension system that faces an "age crunch" as postwar baby=20 boomers flood into retirement. The plans see public sector workers paying=20 into the pension for as long as private sector ones =97 for 40 years instead= =20 of the current 37-1/2 =97 to earn full retirement rights. By 2020 everyone= =20 will have to pay in for 42 years. A previous attempt at pension reform was= =20 abandoned by the last centre-right government in 1995 after crippling=20 transport strikes. Raffarin's popularity does not seem to be waning though,= =20 with a poll on Liberation's Web site on Tuesday putting support for the=20 Prime Minister at 51 percent =97 up one percentage point from April. Energy= =20 workers and hospital staff took part in the protests. Many newspapers were= =20 only available online as distribution workers stayed away. On the upside, a= =20 walkout by workers at motorway toll booths ensured a free ride for some=20 motorists. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************