PARIS — Travel woes piled up in France today with air traffic delays adding to a week of rail strikes as many of the nation's 5 million civil servants held a daylong walkout in the biggest test of President Nicolas Sarkozy's appetite for reform.
Schools and the postal service were among victims of the day of action by civil servants pressing for pay hikes and assurances of job security. More than 300,000 - or nearly 40 percent - of France's teachers stayed off the job, the Education Ministry said, forcing some schools to close. Flights also were delayed and newspapers not printed.
