A labour walkout that has frustrated Paris commuters and marooned thousands of holiday travellers in France dragged into its 29th day on Thursday, becoming the country’s longest continuous railway strike with no end in sight.

The standoff over the government’s plan to merge 42 pension schemes into a single, points-based system has seen workers at the state-owned SNCF railway company and Paris’ RATP public transport operator down tools since December 5.

Hundreds of thousands of strikers and their supporters have turned out for three mass rallies in recent weeks. Rail workers were joined by teachers, hospital workers and other public-sector employees angry about the overhaul, which they fear will leave pensioners poorer.

The previous longest SNCF strike, over salary and working conditions, lasted for 28 days in 1986 and early 1987.

The latest action has crippled public transport, particularly in Paris and its outskirts, and severely disrupted regional and long-distance trains, with thousands having to cancel or modify their plans for the year-end holidays. Workers on strike forfeit their salary, and by Thursday the participation rate had dropped to under seven percent of the SNCF workforce — the lowest since the protest started.

The levels are higher among some categories, with about a third of train drivers off work.

Two days have been set aside for fresh negotiations starting on Tuesday next week, followed by another day of mass mobilisation called by unions for January 9.

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