Sarkozy Hit By Further Strikes

Tens of thousands of striking teachers and state workers took to the streets in France yesterday in protest at Nicolas Sarkozy's job cuts, just as the president tried to contain infighting within his party.

The president is standing firm on his promised "cultural revolution" to streamline France's bloated and costly public sector by cutting jobs and not replacing certain staff who retire. In education 11,200 jobs will go by the start of the next school year in September, causing sporadic strikes over the past two months.

Hundreds of schools were closed as teachers walked out yesterday, joined by some postal workers, tax inspectors, air traffic controllers and customs officers. But unions warned it was a mere taster for another "black Thursday" next week when transport workers, including rail, metro and Air France staff, will join a widespread strike against pension reform, potentially gridlocking France.

With France's economic growth looking slightly healthier than expected despite stagnating consumer demand, Sarkozy issued a statement saying his economic revolution was working. But the president suffered a snub from disgruntled MPs in his own centre-right UMP party this week. Days after he warned MPs against any more infighting the parliament rejected a bill on genetically modified crops, after only one third of his MPs turned out to vote.

Le Monde called it a "spectacular snub". The left had criticised the bill, saying it did not provide enough safeguards to protect conventional crops from GM contamination, while some on the right felt it favoured environmentalists by ordering the public disclosure of every GM field.

The Sarkozy camp is still reeling from the dire poll ratings and internal bickering that have overshadowed the celebrations of his first year in power.