San Francisco Frontiers - French pensions strikes lose momentum as March showdown looms

The fifth day of action against President Emmanuel Macron's reform -- whose headline measure is raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 -- aims to keep up the pressure ahead of a wider mass walkout, planned for March 7.

But unlike previous strike days, most mainline trains and the Paris metro were running normally, as fewer workers participated during school holidays across most of France.

That was reflected in education ministry figures showing fewer than eight percent of teachers on strike, half last week's level.

Employees at state-controlled energy giant EDF said they had lowered output by more than 3,000 megawatts, or the equivalent of three nuclear power plants, without affecting supply to end users.

On Wednesday, many hydroelectric plants had been disconnected from the grid.

On Thursday, 30 percent of flights from Paris's Orly airport were cancelled.

Demonstrators turned out across France carrying signs including "retirement before arthritis" or "why not 69 years, if you're going to screw us?"

Unions said some 1.3 million people participated nationwide Thursday, the lowest figure since the protest movement started on January 19.

Police had said earlier they expected up to 650,000 people, down from nearly a million on Saturday.

Thursday's actions were meant to "keep up the mobilisation" against the reform but "for today, the numbers aren't so important", said Philippe Martinez, head of the hard-left CGT union, at a demonstration in Albi in southwestern France.

"After the school holidays, we'll need to turn up the volume," he said.

The police reported that 37,000 demonstrators marched in Paris on Thursday, down from 93,000 on Saturday.

- 'Block everything' -

Polling shows around 70 percent of the public reject Macron's pension reform plans. A petition opposing the reforms has gathered more than one million signatures.

Left-wing opponents have submitted thousands of amendments to the bill to delay procedures in parliament, which is currently debating the draft law.

It is unclear whether the lower house will discuss its Article 7, which lays out the change to the retirement age, before running out of time on Friday.

The unions have written directly to lawmakers asking them to throw out the whole bill and especially Article 7.

Members of parliament have already rejected one article designed to press companies to employ more older workers.

There is "a possible majority in the chamber to vote against" the retirement age provision, Socialist member of parliament Philippe Brun said.

Aurore Berge, the parliamentary leader of Macron's centrist Renaissance party, said the left was "afraid of having a vote", adding she was sure the government would get the support it needed.

Macron himself also sought to project confidence on Wednesday, telling a cabinet meeting that opposition parties had "totally lost their way" over the pensions fight.

But the biggest day of action may still be to come, with unions promising to bring France to a halt on March 7.

Unions are debating whether to shift to rolling strikes after that date, with Paris metro workers and rubbish collectors already in favour.

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M.Powell--SFF