Travelers wait to board a train at Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, December 29, 2019. /AP Photo
French union leaders upped their calls on Monday for President Emmanuel Macron to give ground on a planned pension overhaul, amid signs that support is flagging for a grueling transport strike now entering its 26th day.
Macron is scheduled to address the nation Tuesday in his annual New Year's Eve speech, having largely left it to his government to defend one of the most contested reforms of his term.
The president will reaffirm his "determined ambition (for) a project of social progress that corrects a number of inequalities," said an official at the Elysee Palace on condition of anonymity.
"At this stage he is not expected to go into the details of the reform," which would scrap 42 separate pension schemes for a single, points-based system, the official said.
It would also set a "pivot age" of 64 at which retirees would benefit from a full pension, though they can legally leave at 62, a change the unions fiercely oppose.
A demonstrators wears a sticker on his hat that reads, "no to Macron's pension reform" during a protest in Paris, December 28, 2019. /AP Photo
Macron's speech "is a non-event for us," said Fabien Dumas of the SUD-Rail union.
"I'm not expecting any announcements," he said, ahead of new talks between unions and the government starting January 7.
After three weeks of strikes – the longest since the mid-1980s – the French government has conceded that some workers, like police and firefighters, would still be able to have early retirements.
"It's obvious that his plan is coming apart," Yves Veyrier of the Force Ouvriere union was quoted by France Info radio as saying on Monday.
The transport strike has cast a pall over the holidays, snarling daily commutes in big cities like Paris and spelling travel misery for thousands over Christmas.
Half of the country's high-speed TGV trains were cancelled Monday, with more severe disruptions for regional trains, and similar disruptions are expected through the week.
A closed access to the subway at Gare Saint Lazar station in Paris, December 29, 2019. /AP Photo
But rail operator SNCF said just 7.1 percent of the employees were on strike, including a third of train drivers, the lowest rate since the protest was launched on December 5.
And in Paris, only two of the 16 metro lines were shut down completely — though most others were offering only minimal service, and only during morning or evening rush hours.
"It's starting to get tiring, we're tired," said real estate employee Julie at Saint-Lazare station in Paris.
"At the same time we support the movement," she acknowledged. "But it's tiring."
The strike is also likely to crimp New Year's festivities.
In Paris, 250,000 to 300,000 people usually gather on the Champs-Elysees to ring in the new year, with the city's 16 metro lines open – and free – all night.
But this year just two metro lines will run, and only until 2:15 a.m., though transit operator RATP vowed to step up night bus services.
(With input from AFP)