French Rail Strike Resumes As Govt Warns It Won't Back Down

Paris, April 8 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Apr, 2018 ) :French rail workers launched their latest two-day strike on Sunday over plans to overhaul the heavily indebted train operator SNCF, the biggest test yet to President Emmanuel Macron's wide-ranging drive to reform the country's economy.

Neither side appears ready to back down, with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warning that the government would not be deterred despite union pledges for three months of rolling stoppages, and possibly more.

"I get messages from people who support the government, saying we need to carry this through all the way. And that's what we are going to do," Philippe told the Parisien newspaper Sunday. Disruptions were so far less severe than the first two days of the strike last week, though the SNCF warned of more cancellations possible on Monday for the network's 4.5 million daily passengers.