Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- France's longest strike in more than a decade extended to an eighth day, with transport services further disrupted by vandalism amid talks over a plan to roll back pension privileges. The strikes will continue tomorrow.

High-speed trains that ran today were delayed as many as three hours by acts the state-owned rail company, known as SNCF, described as ``coordinated sabotage.''

``We will not be intimidated by a minority of activists,'' Laurent Wauquiez, the government spokesman, told reporters today in Paris.

The most disruptive walkout since 1995 is posing the biggest challenge for President Nicolas Sarkozy since his May election. He pledged during his campaign to bring retirement benefits for public employees in line with the rest of the country by ensuring they work 40 years instead of 37.5 before getting a full pension.

``We are not going to stand down and we are not going to retreat,'' Sarkozy said yesterday in his first public comments on the strike. ``Our country has to change.''

For more than a week, the transport strike brought bumper- to-bumper traffic in and round Paris. People rode bicycles or walked to work. The few metros, buses and commuter trains have been packed at rush hour.

Four unions at Paris transport operator RATP called for an extension of the strike after they finished a four-and-a-half meeting with management and government representatives.

Union Calls

``We will let employees and those on strike access'' what was discussed in the meeting, said Gerard Leboeuf, the Confederation Generale du Travail union leader at RATP.

The general secretary of CGT, France's second-largest union by members, called for the strikes to end. Force Ouvriere, UNSA and SUD unions have said they'll continue the walkouts that started on Nov. 14.

``The situation has evolved,'' CGT's Bernard Thibault said in a radio interview on Europe 1 today. ``We were in a blocked situation and now the government has agreed to negotiate. We wish to see an end to the strike.''

The strikes cost as much as 400 million euros ($589 million) a day, the finance ministry estimates. It's a ``catastrophe,'' said Laurence Parisot, head of Medef, France's largest business federation.

Today's Talks

More than two-thirds of French people say the strike isn't justified, according to an OpinionWay poll published today in Le Figaro newspaper. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed said the strike ``isn't justified,'' the same as at the beginning of last week, and 69 percent of respondents don't want the government ``to give in to union demands,'' the poll showed.

Talks today brought together the management of SNCF, all eight of its unions and a government representative. Unions at the national railway also called for an extension of the strike for tomorrow.

``If there's confirmation of an opening of a framework for negotiations over a longer period we will have to rethink how our actions will continue,'' Thibault said. ``Each CGT delegation will assess whether there is room to negotiate in coming weeks.''

Some of the unions at SNCF voted to extend the strike. About 23 percent of SNCF employees were no-shows today, down from 27 percent yesterday, the company said. SNCF said it expected 400 high-speed trains out of 700 to run, more than yesterday's 330. Regional service is still disrupted. The company said 583 trains will run tomorrow.

More Disruption

The rail operator said there were a series of ``destructive acts'' this morning on the tracks of the high speed TGV network, disrupting services. Union officials condemned the acts.

RATP, the operator running Paris's 16 metro lines, buses and two of the commuter trains, said traffic was ``disrupted.'' About 16 percent of its employees were on strike today, down from 18.4 percent yesterday.

The company said one out of four metro trains on most of its lines, two out of three on line 1 were running and that there was full traffic on the automated line 14. There was little traffic to Charles de Gaulle airport, and about half of the buses worked.

Tomorrow, traffic will improve a little, with one out of every three or four metros on most lines and two out of three on line 1, RATP said. Sixty percent of the buses will run. Traffic will still be ``disrupted'' on the trains to and from Charles de Gaulle, it said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 21, 2007 11:36 EST