The French rail unions’ strike reached its third day as the commuters had to put up with another day of misery. The workers are protesting against the pension reform.

The government said that in order for the talks to begin, the strike should come to an end, AFP reports.

The presence of the strikers at SNCF Rail Company was of 32 percent, which is down from the 61.5 percent on Wednesday. However, services on the national and on the commuter system were still affected.

Some local union branches voted for the strike to continue at least until Tuesday, when another protest is planned by state employees.

Hopes for an early end to the strike were raised when the General Labour Confederation (CGT) agreed to hold talks regarding pension reforms and Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand gave a month to reach an agreement. However, hopes were thwarted by the extension of the strike.

Still, the government said that until the strike is called off, no negotiations will be made.

On Friday, at the Argenteuil train depot east of Paris, strikers tried to prevent trains from leaving by placing hand flares and fire-crackers on the tracks. This action aimed the non-striking railway men in an attempt to prevent them from working.

The reason the unions are protesting is that the government wants to end the pension privileges of the 500,000 workers from the railway and energy sectors and to bring up to 40 years their contribution periods.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the government can not abandon the issue of the contribution periods, but could bring other adjustments like salary raise.

On Thursday the number of the trains that were running was a little higher, having 250 out of 700 TGV fast-trains in operation. One underground train in Paris out of four was running.