法国发生大罢工 交通中断

The unions have already flexed their muscles with three days of strikes in the space of a month, but they're determined to ramp up the pressure on the governments. These workers are angry about Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reforms which mean the retirement age will rise from 60 to 62.

There is a big difference between the last round of demonstrations of strike. This one is that now the law has been passed by parliament, so as much as it's easy for government to compromise, or to, you know, on some aspects of the laws, on the, sometimes fundamental aspects of its plans. Now that the law is the law of the republic, it's something that is very official. So it's not something that can be negotiated in backroom deals.

The strikes are expected to cause havoc once again to the transport system. During the last walkout flights were cancelled, and rail stations were silent as people have to find alternative ways to get abouts.

This industrial action though could go on for sometime. Votes will be held on a daily basis on whether to continue the protests. It could mean France is paralyzed for days to come.

From the moment that you have rail workers who are going on strike, and one gets the sense that the young people are joining the movement. It's beginning to feel like 1995 when they defeated the cut backs.

But the pension reforms have already passed through parliament, and the government is unlikely to back down even in the face of widespread industrial unrest.

Nicolas Sarkozy has made the pension bill a central plank of his presidency as he seizes re-election in 2012. His party claims that the cuts are essential if France is to combat its growing deficits.

But on the streets anger is rising, workers believe the changes to the age of retirement is just a start of an attack on their way of life.