French unions call for new day of action on December 10

Nationwide strike in France against pensions reform plans

PARIS (Reuters) - French unions have called for a new day of strikes and demonstrations against the government's pension reform plans on Tuesday, Dec. 10, a representative of CGT union said on Friday.

"They (the government) have failed to measure to extent of the social discontent in our country and they'd better hurry up to come up with some answers", Catherine Perret told reporters.

France is grappling with a second day of travel chaos and understaffed schools and hospitals after street protests on Thursday drew hundreds of thousands -- at least 800,000 according to the interior ministry, 1.5 million reported by the CGT.

(Reporting Caroline Pailliez; Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Catherine Evans)