French FinMin sees no impact of rolling anti-labor reform strikes on domestic economy

French finance minister Michel Sapin on Thursday played down the impact rolling strikes against labor reform has on growth, saying they would not be halted due to "meaningless" social action.

Speaking to France Info radio, Sapin said that overall, the movement had no impact. However, he called on unionists to not throw a wrench in "a growth which is recovering."

"It's natural to protest, but what is the priority of our economy? What is the priority of trade unions? It's employment. Job creation is starting, this is not the time to stop it," he said.

A labor reform aimed at making layoffs easier and offering more flexibility to companies to incite hiring sparked a wave of violent street protests and strikes in many vital sectors.

Despite the protest movement having lost some steam, rail services on Thursday remained disrupted as workers stopped working for the eighth consecutive day.

The SNCF state railway company said less than 10 percent of workers were on strike on Wednesday, considerably fewer than last week.

Amid persistent showdowns over new labor rules, waste treatment workers joined the anti-reform initiative leading to piles of rubbish in parts of Paris and many other cities on the eve of the European football tournament expected to lure millions of foreign visitors.

To Sapin, these strikes, led by the country's largest union CGT, "make no sense."

"For a strike to be understood, it must have meaning and this strike is meaningless," he said.

As the government stands firm to press through with its proposal to loosen labor rules, CGT pledged to intensify social action to make French officials reconsider the reform which it said would create more low-paying jobs and weaken workers' rights. Endit