French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Friday nationwide strikes in the public sector would not weaken his resolve to reform the pension system but promised workers would be spared a brutal transition to the new regime.
Philippe said he was not seeking confrontation with trade unions, which on Friday called for mass
protests and strikes over plans to streamline one of the developed world's most generous pension systems to continue next week.
The government wants to replace a byzantine system comprised of more than 40 separate pension plans, each with varying benefits, with a single, points-based system under which for each euro contributed, every pensioner has equal rights.