French railmen signal first crack in strike

With trade unions planning another big demonstration in Paris tomorrow, the first small cracks have started to appear in the strikes that have paralysed transport in France for three weeks. Train drivers in several major cities - including Strasbourg, Nancy and Reims - voted yesterday to return to work, as did a number of key depots in northern France, including Calais and Lille. One line of the Paris Metro was reopened briefly yesterday morning.

Unfortunately for President Jacques Chirac, these distant harbingers of an end to the industrial unrest were too insubstantial to affect the continuing chaos that prevailed yesterday in Paris beyond the heavily guarded rectangle enclosing the Elysee Palace, the foreign ministry and Les Invalides.

Instead of staying in a showpiece capital, washed and brushed for the occasion, foreign dignitaries attending the Bosnia peace signing had to fly into the city by helicopter, transfer to their official cars beside the lawns of Les Invalides, to be rushed to the Elysee.

The pavements were full of determined pedestrians and cyclists. On adjacent bridges, meanwhile, rows of cars were locked even more densely than on previous strike mornings because their usual thoroughfares were blocked off.

Yesterday's first breaches in the strike followed a series of concessions from the government, which has effectively agreed to scrap all proposed changes in pension terms and conditions for public sector workers. It has also taken back to the drawing board a restructuring plan for the state railway company, SNCF, that was expected to bring closures of unprofitable branch lines. The basic welfare reform proposed by the Prime Minister, Alain Juppe, however, remains in place.

While the breaks in the strike will be a cheering sign for the government after Tuesday's huge demonstrations across the country, it is too soon to say that the strikes are over. Most transport workers voted by large majorities again yesterday to remain on strike. Postal and telephone services are still disrupted, and several provincial cities are without refuse collections and other public services.

Even in places where railwaymen have agreed to return to work, the trains still will not be able to run if other parts of the regional network remain on strike. There is also the risk of a national divide opening up if the southern part of the country continues to strike while the north starts to return to work.

In the past two weeks, militancy in south and central France, especially in the big cities of Marseille and Toulouse, has exceeded that of many northern cities, even of Paris.

Yesterday, while the ceremonies for Bosnian peace took their course, many a French man and woman could be heard wishing that the same peace could be installed closer to home. ''Let's hope,'' said the man beside me as President Chirac initialled the Bosnian peace treaty, ''that the next time he does this, he'll be signing a truce with the trade unions.''