France descends into strike chaos

November 14, 2007

French rail workers kicked off an open-ended, nationwide strike late Tuesday, setting up a showdown between the unions and President Nicolas Sarkozy over his pledge to carry out labour reforms. Unions at the state SNCF rail company walked off the job at 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) and the shutdown was to extend on Wednesday to Paris metro trains and the gas and electricity public utilities. Soundbites from commuters at Paris' Gare du Nord station, and images and a soundbite from commuters using the Paris city bike rental scheme, Velib, to get to work.