Rail strike hits France over preparation for privatization

State rail workers in France went on strike Tuesday over management plans to rewrite working conditions in preparation for Europe-wide deregulation.

The 24-hour industrial action reduced high-speed train services and intercity rail journeys to one in three, seriously disrupting services around the country, canceling a slew of train routes and snarling commutes for hundreds of thousands in the capital, Paris, and several other provinces, media reported.

France's national rail company SNCF said half of the country's high speed TGV trains were canceled. It said one out of three suburban trains was similarly affected. In Paris, half of all suburban train trips were hit.

Tuesday's strike, which is rail workers' third industrial action in two months, stems from a dispute between labor and management over working hours, overtime and compensation.

The SNCF management says it hopes that by reducing rail workers' rest periods and other protective work practices, it will be able to prepare the company when EU-wide legislation puts France's national passenger services into the hands of competition in 2020.

The rail passenger sector is scheduled to be opened up to full-on competition, firstly on high-speed lines in 2020, and more broadly in 2026.

The 150,000 rank-and-file members of the state railway have often been singled out in the country as enjoying enviable job and pension rights under decades of monopoly status.

Meanwhile, French labor unions say they plan to increase the scope of strikes.

"For the moment this is just a massive warning strike," said Philippe Martinez, head of the large, hardliner CGT union.

The conservative CFDT union said in a statement it "will never put its name to a regression in work and transport safety standards."

With the exception of the United Kingdom, which entirely privatized its railways in the 1990s, most European Union countries have limited deregulation.

Elsewhere, Eurostar said its trains linking London with Brussels, Paris and other cities, were unaffected by the French workers walkout. However, Thalys, which runs trains between France, Belgium and Germany, told its customers to expect some disruptions.

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