Summary
France's government moved Tuesday to calm protests against labor law reform ahead of the monthlong European football championship, announcing a pay rise for school teachers and pledging to speed up reorganization talks at the SNCF railways. The Socialist government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls is urging the hard-line CGT union that is leading a rail strike as of Tuesday evening to propose ways out of the confrontation over a labor reform bill that will make hiring and firing easier.
In moves Tuesday, the government announced a pay rise for school teachers worth 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) by 2019 and, with a rail strike set to start later in the day, said it had intervened over the heads of management of the SNCF state railways to speed up negotiations on a reorganization.
The rail stoppage and calls for strikes in other transport sectors later this week have raised the spectre of chaos when France hosts the Euro 2016 football tournament from June 10 to July 10, when some 2.5 million fans are expected in stadiums, including 1.5 million foreign visitors.
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