France braces for disruptions as strike looms

PARIS: French labour unions called for a general strike on January 29 to protest what they said were inadequate government measures to counter rising unemployment and falling purchasing power.

Confederation Francaise du Travail, France���s biggest union, Confederation Generale du Travail, the second largest, and six other labor groups asked employees of the public and private sectors to take to the streets in what could be the biggest such action since President Nicolas Sarkozy was elected in May 2007. It comes as France enters its first recession in 16 years.

���This could be a big movement,��� Former Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand told France 2 Television. Bertrand is the new head of Sarkozy���s ruling party, the Union for a Popular Movement.

The protests threaten to disrupt traffic on the Paris subway and commuter trains, on the national railway, at airports and on Air France-KLM Group flights, unions said.