WALKOUT FUELS FRENCH STRIKE WOES !

French commuters have been hard-hit by the transport strikes. Strike action spreads. Hundreds of thousands of civil servants have joined striking transport and energy workers as France is crippled by a second week of industrial action.
Postal workers, teachers, air traffic controllers and hospital staff are holding a 24-hour stoppage to protest against planned pay and job cuts.
Students are continuing demonstrations at plans for more university autonomy.
It could end up as the biggest protest over President Nicolas Sarkozy's reform plans since he took power in May.
The latest nationwide stoppage left many schools closed, hospitals providing a reduced service and newsagents without newspapers.
The French capital's two airports and Marseille airport in the south suffered delays and cancellations.

Strike fever hits France
France's workplace anger
In pictures: Strikes spread

French energy workers, who began a third 24-hour strike on Monday night, have cut nearly 9% of capacity at nuclear plants, union officials said.
Rail and bus workers are on their seventh day of an indefinite stoppage against planned pension cuts.
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the dispute was costing France up to 400m euros (£290m) a day.
Half of the country's high-speed TGV trains were operating on Tuesday, while in Paris only one metro train in three was in service and less than half of buses were expected to run.

STRIKERS' GRIEVANCES

Teachers, civil servants oppose job cuts and want more pay
Newspaper distributors angry at planned restructuring
Transport workers on strike for a week over pension reforms
Students protest at changes they say could exclude poor

State rail operator SNCF says the number of its workers on strike had fallen since last week.
The strikes have caused havoc for millions of commuters across France and massive traffic jams built up on roads into the capital again on Tuesday morning.
BBC world affairs correspondent Nick Childs says the French president's recent public absence is striking, though he may be avoiding confrontation to test the mood.
But our correspondent says keeping quiet could be seen as uncertainty and weakness, leading to sentiment turning against Mr Sarkozy if the disruption drags on.
Opinion polls suggest voters back the French leader's pension reforms but a majority sympathises with the civil servants' pay and job cut grievances.
Analysts say Mr Sarkozy is attempting to succeed where his predecessor Jacques Chirac failed, by standing firm against the strikers and completing his reforms.
Walking to work in the centre of Paris, commuter Guy Cousserant, 56, told Reuters: "A small group of people are holding the country hostage. It's lamentable, very annoying."

But one woman in the capital told AP news agency: "The civil servants' purchasing power has dramatically lowered. I think they have the right to go on strike."
Eight unions representing 5.2 million state employees - around a quarter of the entire workforce - say their spending power has fallen 6% since 2000, though the government disputes that figure.
They also oppose plans to cut 23,000 jobs in 2008, half in education.
Students are continuing to block access to campus buildings in half of the country's 85 universities.

'SPECIAL' PENSIONS SYSTEM
Benefits 1.6m workers, including 1.1m retirees
Applies in 16 sectors, of which rail and utilities employees make up 360,000 people
Account for 6% of total state pension payments
Shortfall costs state 5bn euros (£3.5bn; $6.9bn) a year
Some workers can retire on full pensions aged 50
Awarded to Paris Opera House workers in 1698 by Louis XIV

Can street protests succeed?
Solidarity amid French crisis

They have been protesting since the start of November over plans to let faculties pursue non-government funding.
The transport workers' strike was triggered by plans to scrap "special" pensions privileges enjoyed by half a million staff.
SNCF bosses are due to hold talks with transport unions on Wednesday.
The government has relaxed its earlier stance on refusing talks unless strikers returned to work.
On Monday Prime Minister Francois Fillon said rail traffic must "progressively restart" for talks to take place.
But he insisted the government would not budge on its commitment to overhaul the French economy, saying it had a mandate to reform.

BBC NEWS REPORT.