From The Telegraph

In a bustling brasserie near the Gare de l’Est, Serge Bonnaud, a train driver for 27 years, peered over a double espresso. “Many rail workers are only on strike because they have received threatening telephone calls,” he said.

“They are scared for themselves and for their families. Some have been assaulted by their colleagues when they have tried to go to work.”

Mr Bonnaud, 47, who drives Trains à Grand Vitesse (TGVs), is not on strike and believes none of his fellow cheminots employed by the state-owned French railway SNCF, should be on strike either.

“We have to negotiate because we have to modernise,” said the father of four from the suburbs of Paris. “We should not bring misery to people trying to get around.”

This weekend, there are signs are that his moderate views are shared by a growing number of France’s 170,000 railworkers, who are striking to try to block reforms to their pension privileges.

The proportion of strikers is down from more than 60 per cent a few days ago to 32 per cent. One union, the CFDT, has recommended calling off the action and many more employees are expected to return to work tomorrow. Train drivers earn…

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