France - SNCF to Hire 900 Workers by End of This Year, Le Figaro Says

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, the state-owned rail operator, will hire an extra 900 people by the end of the year after more workers retired than the company had expected, the French daily Le Figaro said, citing Francois Nogue, the company’s head of human resources.

The announcement was made yesterday to SNCF unions, the newspaper said. French railworker unions are scheduled to begin open-ended strikes on Oct. 12 if President Nicolas Sarkozy refuses to scrap plans to raise the retirement age by two years.

--Editor: David McQuaid

source: www.businessweek.com