French strike pits workers vs. government as inflation bites

By NICOLAS GARRIGA and BOUBKAR BENZABAT
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Industries across France have gone on strike Tuesday to push for pay hikes that keep up with rising inflation. It ramps up the clash between workers and the government after weeks of walkouts that hobbled oil refineries and sparked gasoline shortages around the country. Rail and other transportation workers, trucking and bus companies, some high school teachers and public hospital employees have heeded a call by an oil workers’ union for French industry to push for salary increases and protest government intervention in the refinery strikes. Trains have been disrupted, including interruptions reported on the Eurostar and the inter-city trains linking France with Spain.