Thousands of workers took to the streets across France on Thursday for a sixth day of mass demonstrations against a pension overhaul. 

The rallies came on the 43rd day of a strike that has paralyzed the French transport system. According to French authorities, 187,000 people marched in France on Thursday, including 23,000 in Paris.

The strike was first started on December 5, and continued until this day, marking the nation's longest transport strike in decades. "It's never too late to make a government back down," Philippe Martinez of the General Confederation of Labor Unions said ahead of a demonstration at the Montparnasse train station in the capital that included teachers, lawyers and hospital workers.

But France's largest labor union, French Democratic Confederation of Labor, did not take part in the rally. It came after French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe proposed a move to temporarily withdraw a measure that would have forced people to work until 64 to qualify for a full pension. 

The two-month strike was over President Emmanuel Macron's plan to replace France's 42 separate pension systems with a universal points-based system. Under France's current pension system, workers from dozens of industries ranging from rail, energy to Paris opera staff, enjoy special pension benefits that some say are unfair to others. 

The retirement age in France, which was raised from 60 to 62 in the past decade, was one of the lowest among developed countries. A report commissioned by the French government shows the country's pension deficit could run as high as 17.2 billion euros by 2025. 

The government says the pension overhaul will create a fairer, more transparent system, but critics say the reform will force people to work beyond the official retirement age to avoid curtailed pensions. 

Starting from earlier this month, the French government began crucial talks with unions to try to end the strike. French Prime Minister Philippe offered a plan to withdraw raising the retirement age for full pension benefit if the pension budget can be balanced another way. 

The offer essentially drove a wedge between unions determined to see the reform scrapped and those more open to reform. The moderate unions applauded Philippe's gesture as a major compromise, but the ones most heavily represented in the railways and the Paris subway demanded the reform be withdrawn altogether. 

Weeks of strikes and protests have disrupted public transportation, forced schools, hospitals, courthouses, and even opera houses to close. While the number of striking workers has diminished, the country's trains and Paris subways were still disrupted Thursday. 

(With input from agencies)