France's nationwide strike against a planned pension reform, which seriously disrupted train services, shut schools and halted fuel deliveries on Tuesday, will spill into Wednesday as unions stepped up their campaign to force a U-turn on a deeply unpopular policy, Trend reports citing Reuters.
This is a critical time for both sides since French President Emmanuel Macron's government is hoping his plan to raise the pension age by two years to 64 will be adopted by parliament by the end of the month.
Looking to pile pressure on lawmakers, France's more hardline unions said there would be rolling strikes this time, which could go on for days, at least in some sectors.
The CGT union said workers had voted to prolong strikes at all TotalEnergies sites.
"The real fight starts now," said Marin Guillotin, FO union representative at the Donges refinery in western France.
"We haven't been heard or listened to. We are using the only means we have left: it's the hard strike ... we are not going to give up."
Trains will continue to be disrupted on Wednesday, as will the Paris metro system, though to a slightly lesser degree than on Tuesday, the SNCF and RATP transportation companies running them said.
Truck drivers and garbage collectors had joined the strike on Tuesday, as it extended to more sectors.