Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- French transport unions extended their strike for a ninth day, the longest stoppage in more than a decade, disrupting train and bus services as talks began with management and the government.

Four unions at the Paris public transport operator RATP and four unions at the national railway company known as SNCF continued their walkout today after holding talks yesterday on government plans to roll back pension privileges.

``Regional union members now have to decide whether they want to return to work but, as you can see, quite a lot have gone back already,'' Jean-Daniel Bigarne, UNSA union secretary general for the railway division, said in an interview.

The most disruptive walkout since 1995 is posing the biggest challenge for President Nicolas Sarkozy since his May election. He pledged on Nov. 19 that he was ``not going to retreat'' on his campaign promise to bring retirement benefits for all public employees in line with the rest of the country by ensuring they work 40 years instead of 37.5 for a full pension.

``The strike is almost over,'' Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau told RTL radio this morning. He said the government ``has held firm. The reform will go through.''

For almost 10 days, the transport strike has brought bumper-to-bumper traffic to Paris and the surrounding area. People rode bicycles or walked to work and the few metros, buses and commuter trains in service have been packed at rush hour.

Further delays resulted yesterday from what SNCF called ``coordinated sabotage'' by some strikers. The government and union leaders condemned the acts.

Strike `Catastrophe'

The disruption has cost as much as 400 million euros ($594 million) a day, the finance ministry estimates. It's a ``catastrophe,'' Laurence Parisot, head of France's largest business federation Medef, said yesterday.

Strikers have started local meetings this morning across France to decide whether to maintain the blockage. Yesterday, 18.4 percent of RATP workers were off the job. Unions at RATP, including UNSA, said they may start a strike again on Dec. 20, should the negotiations fail, Arnaud Morvan, a union spokesman, told iTele cable news channel today.

Government advisers attended meetings with SNCF and RATP yesterday. SNCF head Anne-Marie Idrac said in an e-mailed statement that talks should be completed by Dec. 18, after five meetings on pensions, wage increases, jobs and heavy work. SNCF has already offered pay and pension increases. RATP has also set a negotiation timetable through December 13.

Service Increases

Yesterday 23 percent of SNCF employees stayed away from work, down from 27 percent on average last week and 44 percent on the first day of the strike. The company expects 583 high- speed trains out of 700 to run today, compared with 400 yesterday. Regional services are still disrupted.

RATP said traffic on Paris's 16 metro lines, buses and two of the commuter trains remains ``disrupted.'' Commuters waited between 5 and 40 minutes for a metro at 7:15 a.m. Paris time, the company showed on its Web site.

About 60 percent of buses ran, RATP said. There was no train service to and from Charles de Gaulle airport.

At the same time, French university students continued their week of protests. Forty universities out of the country's 82 faced disruptions and seven were completely shut. Students will demonstrate this afternoon in Paris and other big cities, Unef, the biggest students' union reported on its Web site. High school students are also joining demonstrations.

The students oppose a law approved two months ago that gives more autonomy to each campus and gives them the possibility of raising private funds. Students say the state wants to ``privatize'' universities, increase competition among state-run entities and raise tuition and fees. Students started striking on Nov. 5.

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

Last Updated: November 22, 2007 03:06 EST