French Railroad Workers Protest Proposed Cutbacks

French railroad workers stayed off the job for a second day Saturday, crippling weekend train traffic to protest a government plan to cut jobs and unprofitable routes.

Their strike was a holdover from Friday’s massive walkout by public sector workers angered by plans to revamp the debt-plagued health and welfare system. Mail went undelivered, schools, banks, museums and government offices shut down, hospital service was scaled back and public transportation practically nil.

Although other workers returned to the job on Saturday, railroad workers decided to continue the strike through the weekend, protesting for higher wages and against the government’s social safety net.

Only 25 percent of scheduled trains were running on most lines Saturday, but some provincial cities were completely cut off from Paris, with no trains operating.

On the Eurostar line linking Paris to London and Brussels, Belgium, five out of eight scheduled trains were maintained.

Railroad unions representing some 182,000 workers demand higher wages to compensate what they claim is a 20 percent loss in their buying power. Company executives have rejected the claim, saying they cannot go beyond the 3.4 percent increase accorded the workers this year.