French travellers were braced for transport disruption over the Christmas holiday season after unions vowed to continue the nationwide transport strike over pension reforms until January, as thousands prepared to travel home to their families

The French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, failed to break the deadlock in talks with unions and employers’ representatives on Thursday where the government had sought to avoid a Christmas holiday pile-up of frustrated travellers on Friday and over the weekend.

As strikes entered their third week, Philippe emerged from the talks saying he was committed to pushing through the pension reforms. The president, Emmanuel Macron had indicated via his office earlier this week that he was “willing to improve” his plan to eliminate dozens of separate pension schemes by creating a single points-based system.

But unions continued to express their anger at a new “pivot age” of 64 that workers would have to reach in order to receive a full pension, beyond the official retirement age of 62.

Philippe reiterated a plea to unions to suspend transport strikes during the holidays. “I call on unions to allow French people to travel to see their families over Christmas,” he said.

Laurent Berger, leader of the moderate CFDT union, said on Thursday night that he still disagreed with the government. Philippe Martinez, leader of the leftwing CGT union said: “The prime minister hasn’t heard what the street is saying.”

Unions called for another day of nationwide street protests on January 9. However, UNSA, the second-biggest union at railway company SNCF, called for a truce over Christmas, which could alleviate some transport misery.

The standoff is a crucial test for the centrist president, whose planned overhaul of the pensions system was a key election promise. It is part of his pledge to deliver the biggest “transformation” of the French social model and welfare system since the postwar era.

Nearly 12% of the country’s rail workers staged stoppages and about 60% of drivers were on strike on Thursday, less than the previous day. The SNCF national rail authority said about 60% of trains were halted on Thursday, down from 90% earlier in the strike.

Street marches took place in Paris and other cities. Recent polls show a majority of people still support the strikes and protests, as they fear they will have to work longer in return for lower pensions. Past polls have shown broad support for Macron’s principle of streamlining the pension system but, amid confusion over the changes, many do not trust the government to carry out the reforms in a fair way.

Even if the strikes ease slightly, maintenance and timetabling issues could lead to a knock-on effect on Christmas services. The ecology minister, Élisabeth Borne, who handles transport, said this week that 850,000 train tickets had been purchased for Christmas travel and that all would have a place on a train.

French unions dismiss pension changes and vow to continue strikes Read more

The SNCF said it could not announce travel availability between the 24 and 26 December until Friday. There were long queues at ticket offices in Paris as passengers sought to exchange tickets and take whatever services were available over the weekend, but some smaller destinations, for example towns in the south-west of France, were likely to see key services cancelled and very limited local trains or buses.

The SNCF also said the strikes had led it to cancel France’s popular unaccompanied minor service on holiday trains, in which children aged between 4 and 14 can travel with a monitor. About 6,000 children will not be able to travel with the service over Christmas. The leftwing CGT union accused the rail firm of “political spin” by choosing to suspend children’s services.

Macron suffered a fresh blow on Thursday as the Paris prosecutor’s office announced a preliminary investigation into possible conflicts of interest by the official leading the pensions reform process.

Jean-Paul Delevoye resigned his post earlier this week after admitting he had failed to publicly declare all of his affiliations when taking on the pension project.