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French union issues three-month strike notice as pressure steps up over budget cuts

The French union Force Ouvrière (FO), the country's third-largest union, has published a strike notice for the period of September 1st to November 30th - covering all workers in all sectors. The head of the union, Frédéric Souillot, reportedly sent a letter to French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Tuesday informing him of the strike notice. In the letter, Souillot called on "all workers, both private and public sector, to mobilise and strike against the budgetary measures presented on July 15th, with the strike period starting September 1st", TF1 reported. The union leader called budget proposals "brutal, unfair and ineffective measures," French media reported. While unions can issue months-long strike notices, the more usual pattern is to hold two or three-day actions within the period of the strike notice. France's largest union - the hardline CGT - has called for 'mobilisation' in the autumn but has not made any specific plans while the second-largest union, the CFDT, said they had not ruled out plans for strike action, Capital FR reported. A meeting of France's inter-syndical - the group representing all the country's major unions - is scheduled for September 1st. In mid-July, Bayrou presented the outline of his plan to save €40 billion, which could include eliminating two public holidays, in an attempt to tackle France's spiralling budget deficit. Advertisement As of Tuesday, a petition to 'say no to the Bayrou budget' launched by several French unions had collected over 280,000 signatures, and last week, a mysterious online collective issued a call for a 'total and unlimited' blockade of France from September. READ MORE: Protest group calls for 'total blockade of France' in September Debates in parliament on the budget are due to take place in September and October, and it is possible that the prime minister could be toppled over the issue if he loses a vote of no confidence. You can find the latest details on all planned strikes and protests in France in our strike section here.