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VOA - USA

PARIS - Top French officials met Friday to hash out their strategy ahead of fresh pension overhaul talks with unions who have threatened wider protests alongside a crippling transport strike now it its fifth week.

"I urge all union leaders to accept the hand offered by the prime minister so that together we can find a compromise," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said while meeting Paris shop owners hurt by the strike.

The public transport headache has taken a big bite out of holiday earnings for shops and artisans in the capital, with revenues down 30 to 40 percent, according to the CMA business federation.

Hard-line unions are fighting an overhaul that would rationalize France's 42 separate pension regimes into a single points-based system which they say would require millions of people to work beyond the official retirement age of 62.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire talks in a cafe as he visits shopkeepers, restaurateurs and hotel operators to assess the economic impact of nationwide strikes on pensions reform in Paris, France, Jan. 3, 2020.

President Emmanuel Macron made pension reform a key plank of his election campaign, saying it would be fairer and more transparent, particularly to low earners and women.

But unions are vehemently opposed to the proposed "pivot age" of 64 until which people would have to work to receive a full pension, and the loss of early-retirement provisions for some sectors — including the railways.

The CGT union has called a four-day blockade of the country's fuel refineries and depots starting Tuesday, when talks between unions and the government are to resume.

Two unions representing pilots and cabin crew at Air France have called a strike for next week, as have lawyers, physiotherapists and other self-employed workers who have separate — and more advantageous — pension schemes.

"We're getting dozens of emails from supporters every day," CGT chief Philippe Martinez said during a rally outside a Paris department store Friday.

War of wills

Macron insisted in a New Year's Eve address that he would push ahead with the reform, which will be presented to his cabinet on Jan. 22 ahead of a parliamentary debate.

But he promised that people with arduous jobs would still be allowed to retire earlier — a key sticking point in the talks with unions.

Macron is hoping to win the battle of public opinion, betting that support for the strike will falter the longer the disruption persists.

"I support them ... but the problem is that this shouldn't impact all the transport lines," Sonia Bergoz, a 59-year-old nurse, told AFP at the Aulnay-sous-Bois suburban train station northeast of Paris.

"You can't do anything, go to work ... you can't even go out. I'm getting tired of it," she said.

Members of the French national trade union General Confederation of Labour (CGT) distribute leaflets during a rally by the department store Au Printemps, in central Paris, Jan. 3, 2020.

Unions have already called another day of mass demonstrations next Thursday, when teachers, hospital workers and others are expected to join the strike.

"The government is engaged in a battle of attrition. ... We are playing the exact opposite game — we will continue to be strong," said Eric Challal, a 35-year-old employee at rail operator SNCF who has been on strike since Dec. 5.

But he conceded that losing 30 days' worth of pay and with little prospect of change was starting to be a concern.

Asked at the Gare du Nord station in Paris how much longer he could hold out, he told AFP, "I don't really know."

"But for now, we are gritting our teeth," he said as he gathered with other strikers.

Record-breaking strike

Although the number of strikers at the SNCF and Paris transport operator RATP has dropped sharply, travelers continue to suffer extensive service disruptions.

Most Paris metro lines operate only at rush hours, and a third of the country's high-speed TGV trains were canceled on Friday.

It has become the longest continuous train strike in French history, as well as the longest by Paris Opera dancers and other employees who enjoy special pension provisions.

So far, 63 performances at the Opera's historic Garnier and modern Bastille stages have been cancelled, costing the company more than 12 million euros ($13.4 million) in lost ticket sales.

Jean-Marie Monnier, 57, said his cafe Le Rallye du Nord has seen turnover "at least 50 percent" lower than a year ago, a loss he said was "comparable to the attacks" of 2015, when jihadist strikes scared many tourists out of Paris.