A mass national strike is planned across France this Thursday, with marches and widespread transport disruptions being the main features.

A multi-sector general strike planned by several French unions, including CGT, Force Ouvriére, Solidaires and UNSA, will no doubt wreak havoc on local public transport on Thursday.

The 10th November strikes are the continuation of a campaign designed to improve working conditions and obtain pay rises for unionised workers to help off-set cost of living increases.

Locally, this means that the Lignes d’Azur network will be shut down all day. There will be no bus or tramway services available in Nice and the surrounding areas. Additionally, the SNCF rail service will be impacted.

Although unclear how represented these strikes will be, if the previous demonstrations on 18th October are an indicator, there will be significant disruptions to travel, not only due to lack of workers, but also because of marches and protests in the streets.

In Nice, Gaël Nofri, deputy mayor of Nice Parking told Nice Matin, “As every time this is the case, the city of Nice will proceed to offer free on-street parking. A strike being assigned as an emergency situation, we propose an offer accordingly in order to best help the inhabitants.”

A proposal to make the city’s Vélo Bleu service (Blue Bikes) free to all for the day was pushed aside, with Nofri explaining, “It is not planned because we are bound by a contract which does not provide for it.” He did, however, add that “in the future perhaps, the idea is not uninteresting”.

Advice for those who wish to use public transport on Thursday is to check availability ahead of time, or to simply avoid travel on that day.

Photo source: Lignes d’Azur