French Workers Strike With Yellow Vests Looking to Capitalize

(Bloomberg) -- French public workers are striking Tuesday in protest against President Emmanuel Macron‘s policies.

Demonstrations will take place across the country with the CGT labor union calling for a general strike. Support for the action may be strongest among train workers, leaving regional and commuter trains affected by the walkouts. Long-distance and international trains are not expected to face disruptions. Paris airports might be also disrupted with some air-traffic controllers also due to walk off the job.

Some leaders of the Yellow Vest movement have called on supporters to make the action “a day of total shutdown.”

The grassroots movement, which organized mass demonstrations in Paris on successive weekends in December, has lost steam in recent weeks as the president reaches out with a series of town hall meetings across France. On Monday he was in the Paris suburbs debating with local mayors for more than six hours and wrapping up close to midnight.

Macron has vowed to press on with his efforts to refit the French economy but also plans to take on board proposals from the voters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Kevin Costelloe

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