France's government, seeking to avert public transport paralysis when a European soccer tournament kicks off next week, urged the CGT trade union on Tuesday to negotiate a way out of a confrontation over planned labour law reforms.
The transport and labour ministers made the appeal following signals that the CGT, the second largest union by membership, may be ready to talk after months of street protests and rolling strikes, with another rail strike due to start later in the day.
The Socialist government meanwhile used its cheque book to settle sectoral disputes and prevent them coalescing into a national protest movement. It announced a pay rise for teachers, dropped planned cuts in research spending and pledged funds to end a dispute over performing artists' unemployment insurance.
The rail stoppage and calls for strikes in other transport sectors later this week have raised the spectre of chaos when France hosts the Euro 2016 soccer contest from June 10 to July 10, when some 2.5 million fans are expected in stadiums, including 1.5 million foreign visitors.
While President Francois Hollande reiterated his refusal to withdraw a labour reform that would make hiring and firing easier, the ministers said they hoped to defuse the conflict if CGT chief Philippe Martinez showed willing.
"We've been hearing in the last few hours that Mr Martinez is saying 'Let's talk'," Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri told RTL radio. "I am waiting for proposals from the CGT."
To date, the union had demanded that the government simply withdraw the reform plan. It has spearheaded waves of marches and stoppages in sectors such as transport and oil refining.
El Khomri insisted that if the union's position remained unchanged, there would be no deal.
On Monday evening, Martinez said in a debate on RTL radio: "Let's talk again". And he added there was "no pre-condition".
Hollande told Sud Ouest newspaper in an interview there was no turning back on the bill to loosen labour regulations, nor on the most contentious provision giving firms more scope to negotiate working conditions locally.
"ACCELERATE"
Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said he was seeking to settle a parallel dispute poisoning labour relations at the SNCF state railways, where employees are not only on the warpath over the reform but also about internal reorganisation.
"We need to accelerate things," he told France Inter radio. He urged management handling talks on the reorganisation to put final proposals to unions by next Monday to help clear the air.
Railway workers were being called out on strike from 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Tuesday for what the CGT and other smaller unions have warned will be a rolling stoppage. But the reformist CFDT union, the largest by membership, withdrew its strike call after the government signalled concessions.
The company said the stoppage was expected to halt 40 percent of high-speed TGV trains and two-thirds of standard intercity routes, with some disruption of Thalys services to Belgium and the Netherlands but not Eurostar trains to London.
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