Metro strike paralyzes Paris

PARIS (AFP): A transport strike totally paralyzed Paris and the surrounding region yesterday, causing massive traffic jams as people used their own cars to try to get to work.

Traffic chaos was expected to worsen later in the day with a demonstration by the Communist-led CGT trade union in central Paris.

Thousands were forced to walk to their offices under gray, rainy skies or waited in vain for taxis.

Officials said two ring roads around Paris and main highways into the French capital were clogged by a total 230 kilometers of traffic jams at one stage.

The 24-hour strike was massively followed by train and bus drivers after they were called out by 10 out of the 11 transport trade unions. The strike is a protest against feared job losses in a proposed transport reform for the Paris region.

Eight out of the 13 Paris metro lines were completely shut down and on the remainder, services were greatly reduced. Between 10 and 15 percent of buses were running.

Regional express commuter trains on the RER network were also severely curtailed, but trains run by the national railway company SNCF operated normally.

On a normal day the Paris metro transports about six million people and the buses about three million. Many of them had no choice but to use their own cars, causing huge traffic jams on main roads entering the capital.

Transport unions are protesting the expected conclusions of an as yet unpublished report on the capital's transport system by Paris region prefect Jean-Claude Aurousseau. His report is to be handed to the government on April 15.

The unions believe the report will suggest transferring control of the transport from the government to the region, resulting in increased fares, job cuts and reduced services.

Transport Minister Bernard Bosson said the reform would not affect workers' status and the Paris region prefecture said union fears were unjustified.

It said the Aurousseau report merely contained "working hypotheses" and that there was no intention of modifying the status of the metro company RATP and the SNCF as national state enterprises.