French pilots threaten strike during Euro 2016

Transport chaos hit France on Wednesday, just nine days before the Euro 2016 football tournam-ent, as railway workers went on strike in the latest salvo of a mon-ths-long battle between the government and unions.

Around half of France’s trains were cancelled as workers from railway operator SNCF launched their eighth strike in three months, this time saying they will continue until demands for better pay and conditions are met.

“It’s a nightmare today. Even more than the other strike days,” said Christine, an SNCF wo-rker surveying the chaos at Ormesson station in the Paris suburbs, where commuters were struggling to squeeze on to one of the few trains that had shown up.

The strike has piled further pressure on the already deeply unpopular Socialist government, which has been besieged by months of protests and work stoppages over a controversial labour reform bill.

Subway workers in the capital were planning to walk off the job from Thursday and Air France pilots have threatened a lengthy strike in the coming weeks, when Euro 2016 will be in full swing.

“This week will see the strongest mobilisation in three months” of strikes, the head of the powerful CGT union Philippe Martinez said on Tuesday.

Former President Nic-olas Sarkozy has slammed the French government’s handling of labour law reforms that have sparked strikes and protests across the country, denouncing its “weakness, cowardice and total loss of authority”.

The leader of the Opposition said President “Francois Hollande had everything wrong from the start” in his handling of the crisis, which has caused chaos two weeks before the start of the Euro 2016 football tournament.