France braces for new massive strike amid cost of living woes

PARIS (AA) - Unions at RATP, the public transport company in Paris and the Ile-de-France region, are calling for a strike on Thursday, Nov. 10.

"The Intersyndicale has today filed a strike notice from 10 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, until 7 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11," the unions said in a statement posted on Twitter.

The declared goal was that during the strike no metro or suburban train would run. Or as the unions wrote: "0 Metro, 0 RER."

The unions are demanding recognition of the workers' qualifications and a wage increase linked to inflation, and the cost of living crisis.

Meanwhile, the CGT union has called on its website for two more national and cross-sector mobilization days on Oct. 27 and Nov. 10 to demand wage increases.

The last major mobilization on Tuesday, Oct. 18, involved 107,000 demonstrators, according to the French Interior Ministry, but the CGT said there were at least 300,000 protesters.

The strikes occurred mainly in the oil sector, the nuclear industry and public transport.