PARIS (Reuters) -- French unions urged President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday not to try to hustle through his labour reform plans this summer, in contrast with calls from the main employers' group for swift measures to reinforce rising business optimism.

Macron's meetings with unions and employers were a first crucial test of his commitment to carry out labour reforms which he sees as vital to reviving an economy bedeviled by high unemployment, but which are opposed on the Left.

The head of France's biggest moderate trade union said he had urged the newly-elected Macron to leave more time for discussion and not to try to rush his reforms through by executive decree this summer - a strategy which Macron has suggested he might follow.