Blow to President Macron’s govt: France faces biggest protest of railway workers

Paris, April 3: French railway services were thrown into chaos on Tuesday, the first day of rolling nationwide strikes that are set to run for months in the toughest test yet of President Emmanuel Macron’s determination to modernize the French economy.

Commuter lines into Paris will be hit hard and only one in eight high-speed TGVs will operate, as part of a series of rolling strikes on two of every five days over the next three months. Polls show the French are fairly equally split on whether the strike is justified or not, and Macron’s government is betting that in the end, the strike will not gain momentum and spread.

Rail workers are protesting government plans to eliminate a special status that they've enjoyed for decades. The "cheminot" status effectively guarantees jobs for life and other benefits, in keeping with the image of France's railways as an essential pillar of the country's infrastructure and its public services.

Macron's government says that's no longer tenable because today's globalized and increasingly automated economy favors more flexible workforces. In addition, with European Union rules requiring all member states to open up government-run railways to competition, the government argues that the special status puts SNCF at a disadvantage compared to potential private competitors.