French civil servants strike turn heat on President

President Nicolas Sarkozy faces a crucial test of his nerve today as a transport strike continues into its seventh day of commuter chaos, and civil servants stage a walkout that could see up to half of France's schools closed and disrupt air traffic control, the postal service and even weather forecasts.

France's rail and bus strike is continuing despite trade union leaders agreeing to begin talks with the government and state employers tomorrow. They are protesting at plans to change special pensions deals which allow certain workers to retire as young as 50 on favourable terms.

But the strike has been prolonged to overlap with Sarkozy's latest industrial headache: an unrelated 24-hour stoppage by public sector workers, including teachers, hospital staff and postal workers. State employees from defence ministry secretaries to weather office staff will stop work in protest at low salaries and public sector job cuts.

But the president is said to be standing firm on his modernising agenda, in the face of a "black November" of protests against his reforms.

Sarkozy's senior adviser on industrial relations, Raymond Soubie, insisted that this week's snowballing strikes were not the president's "Thatcher moment". He said the transport workers' pension deals would be reformed, but added: "Sarkozy has not wanted to force it through à la Thatcher, but through dialogue."

Sarkozy, despite his image as an iron-willed moderniser, has so far taken a cautious and soft approach. Unusually for the omnipresent leader dubbed "super Sarko", he has not made a public speech for almost a week, aware that he must not be seen to be crowing victory or humiliating his opponents.