Angry unions and youth are joining forces in a day of protests against French President Francois Hollande's effort to tamper with the country's 35-hour work week to create new jobs.
Several union and student organisations called for protests across France on Wednesday to try to kill the bill that has even divided Hollande's Socialists.
The protests fall on the same day as rail strikes that are delaying some suburban and long-distance trains, but not local transport.
The contested labour reform would put wiggle room into France's sacrosanct 35-hour work week, imposed in 2000 by the Socialists and now a cornerstone of the left.
The Socialist government wants adjustments to reduce France's 10 per cent unemployment rate as the shortened work week was meant to do.
