France faces week of strike chaos

By Gerard Bon

PARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - France faces a week of disruption from transport and public sector strikes as unions wage a slew of separate campaigns against President Nicolas Sarkozy's labour reforms.

Hundreds of domestic and international flights were cancelled for a third day on Sunday as Air France (AIRF.PA) pilots pursued a four-day strike, due to end late on Monday.

Travel chaos could spread to the railways on Tuesday when train drivers stage the first of two actions called by separate unions for the same week, while on Thursday many schools could be closed when teachers demonstrate over 2009 budget cuts.

On Saturday, postal services face disruption over plans to prepare the La Poste mail service for partial privatisation.

The head of one of France's biggest unions, CGT leader Bernard Thibault, urged Sarkozy to pay the same attention to workers' demands as he and other leaders have devoted on the world stage to finding a solution to the financial crisis.

"It is urgent to tackle the social situation," Thibault told France Info radio.

Sarkozy is due to return to Paris on Monday or Tuesday after a private visit to New York following this weekend's economic Group of 20 summit, which he labelled a "historic" success.

According to an opinion poll for Sunday's Journal du Dimanche newspaper, the conservative leader's popularity rating recovered one percentage point to 44 percent this month after falling sharply since he was elected last year.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon saw his rating improve two points to 55 percent.

Sarkozy has denounced the excesses of capitalism following the worst financial crisis in decades but has angered unions by spending billions on bailing out banks while dismantling part of France's 35-hour work week and relaxing other restrictions.

PILOTS WARNED

The series of strikes comes as leading unions jostle for position in elections for labour arbitration panels on Dec. 3.

A bid by the government to end the Air France strike by guaranteeing the right to retire at 60 broke down on Saturday when pilots voted against ending their strie half way through.

Air France said it was operating 65-70 percent of long-haul flights and around half of its planned short and medium-haul flights on Sunday, the same level as on previous days.