French labor unions met today on whether to prolong a national transport strike that crippled rail services and local transit networks for a second day. President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose plans to curb retirement privileges for about 500,000 public-sector workers sparked the walkout, on Wednesday offered a fresh round of negotiations to union chiefs, and his spokesman expressed hope that the strike would end ?as quickly as possible.? His labor minister, Xavier Bertrand, has made clear that the centerpiece of the reform ? bringing the retirement eligibility of public-sector workers in line with the rest of the population ? was non-negotiable.
See "French Strike Continues a Second Day", Katrin Bennhold, The New York Times, November 14, 2007