Challenge to Sarkozy

French commuters faced chaos on Wednesday after Parisian transport workers joined colleagues who stopped work Tuesday evening at the French national rail company, SNCF.

According to SNCF, only about one in eight long-distance trains was operating early on Wednesday, with regional services hit even harder. Paris' metro was operating around 20 percent of services.

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand began a meeting with union leaders to seek a compromise on the pension reform that sparked the strike.

The dispute centers on special conditions for public sector employees, which allow them to retire with comparable benefits two and a half years earlier than other people.

The so-called "special regimes" were introduced after World War Two for workers in particularly arduous jobs.

However, the government says the conditions no longer make sense and are too costly for the state to finance. Transport workers say they still suffer low pay and awkward working hours that justify their special status. Around 500,000 public sector workers are affected by the proposed reforms.

Leadership test

The open-ended stoppage poses the biggest challenge to date to President Nicolas Sarkozy, who came to power six months ago promising deep seated reforms.

Hours before the rail strike began, Sarkozy re-asserted his determination to see the reforms through, arguing that he had a strong electoral mandate to enact the changes.

"I will carry out these reforms right to the end. Nothing will put me off my goal," he told the European Parliament during a visit to Strasbourg on Tuesday.

"The French people approved these reforms. I told them all about it before the elections so that I would be able to do what was necessary afterwards."

Opinion polls suggest Sarkozy enjoys broad support from the French public. A survey in L'Express magazine published on Wednesday said 58 percent of people thought the government should not back down.