Travel turmoil grips France as strike enters second day

Travellers faced a second day of chaos across France yesterday as unions pressed on with a strike aimed at forcing President Emmanuel Macron to abandon pension reforms that brought nearly a million people onto the streets.

Dozens of trains, metros and flights were cancelled, many schools were again closed or offering only daycare, and four of the country’s eight oil refineries remained blocked, raising the prospect of fuel shortages.

Unions say Macron’s proposal for a single pension system, which would eliminate dozens of separate plans for public sector workers, would force millions of people in both the public and private sectors to work well beyond the official retirement age of 62.

The government will unveil details of the plan next week but has already said people will have to work longer to maintain a system that could have a deficit of up to 17 billion euros ($19 billion) by 2025.