Several of France's unions including hardline CGT, FO and Solidaire have called for transport workers to strike on Thursday.
Around a 170 strikes will take place around the country in response to President Emmanuel Macron's “liberal reforms” which started with his highly controversial changes to France's enshrined labour code.
Macron has already signed off his controversial reforms but nevertheless they need to be debated in parliament once again before they come into law and will be put to a vote on November 28th.
Unions however are not willing to give up the fight and say Thursday's strike is about keeping up the pressure on Macron. But it looks like they won't be able to create much pressure given what is expected to be a low turn-out.
Protesters in Paris will march between Place de la Republique and Nation, but their numbers are not expected to be great.
Although disruptions to the country's transport network are expected to be minor, some journeys including those involving trains outside the Paris region, are more likely to be affected than others.
Here's what's expected:
Around France
Bus and tram services are not operating n many towns around France or have been severely disrupted.
Most train users can breathe a sigh of relief with France's national rail company SNCF expecting “normal” traffic on the TGV and Transilien (Ile-de-France) network.
However disruptions are predicted on the regional TER and Intercités networks, where 20-33 percent of trains face cancellation. Bus replacement services will be laid on in many areas.
⚠️ Mouvement de grève ⚠️
C'est la #grève à #Bordeaux et en #Gironde aujourd'hui.
Un tiers des #TER ne circule pas, 40% des cantines bordelaises ne sont pas assurées… Toutes les infos ci-dessous. https://t.co/hww7t7KtgL pic.twitter.com/jV3ZxKzRgx— France Bleu Gironde (@Bleu_Gironde) November 16, 2017
Airlines
Some disruptions are expected for people flying on Thursday, said France's civil aviation authority, the DGAC.
Although the authority did not ask airline companies to take pre-emptive measures, replacement air traffic controllers will be on call in Reims, Athis-Mons, Brest, Bordeaux and Aix.
Paris region
It doesn't look like people travelling around the Paris region will be too affected by the strike, with the capital's transport network, the RATP expecting everything to run as normal on “most of the network” which includes the Metro, RER trains, buses and trams.
Photo: AFP
