Ongoing strikes against proposed pension reforms brought France's transport system to a grinding halt for the fifth day in a row, Monday, as the French government met with unions ahead of the legislation's full publication on Wednesday. 

While only 17 percent of railway personnel were on strike on Monday, compared to 55.6 percent on Thursday, it was still enough to wreak havoc on commuters, with a record 620-kilometer-traffic-jam building up in the Paris region. Many of the capital's metro stations remain closed, with only two of the Paris lines (which can apparently operate with minimal human assistance) still running. 

Only a fifth of high-speed TGV trains were in operation, and although there were no flight cancellations scheduled for Monday, Air France was set to call off 25 percent of their domestic flights on Tuesday and a further 10 percent of shorter international flights.

The strikes, some of the country's biggest since the Nineties, have come in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's push for a "universal" retirement system, which for workers in 42 "special regimes" - including rail, energy, and France's legal system - would see an end to early retirement and cuts to pensions.

Unions have also said that under the proposed legislation, millions of private-sector workers would have to stay in employment beyond the current legal retirement age of 62 to get the pension they had expected. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who is set to make the details of the pension reforms public on 12 December, has said that French workers will have to work longer under the new legislation.

A poll in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper from Sunday put 53 percent of the French public in favor of the strike or showing sympathy with the demands being made, a figure six points higher than last week.

Neither the unions who organised the strike nor Macron's government have shown any sign of budging on the legislation. The government will announce the details of the single points-based pension scheme on Wednesday as they prepare a response to those protesting the legislation. Despite union representative Jean-Paul Delevoye meeting with the government on Monday, the head of the Force Ouvriere union, Yves Veyrier, stated: "I will not negotiate over the implementation of what I describe as a monstrosity which endangers tomorrow's pensioners." 

The Presidential Palace will organize a working meeting among senior ministers on Tuesday night, where they are expected to draw up some minor concessions before the final presentation of the bill on Wednesday. One of the possible tweaks to the law could be the extension of the transition period for the new system.

For Macron, the stakes are high. He was elected on an ambitious reform agenda. Yet now, halfway through his first mandate, he is struggling to realize his goals. Weekly protests of the 'Yellow Vests', now in their second year, and accusations that he is giving tax breaks only to France's top earners, have gradually undermined his popularity. He is now facing one of the biggest tests of his presidency.

The strikes are already having an impact on France's economy. Fewer metros mean fewer customers and with only two weeks to go before the Christmas holidays, shop owners are worried about a decline in sales.

"This weekend was catastrophic: Paris was empty, restaurants and brasseries, even fast-food was impacted, with some losing up to 50 percent of their sales," a spokesman for the GNI-Synhorcat alliance of hotel owners and restaurants said.

Jacques Baudoz, president of the Joueclub chain of toy stores, told Europe 1 radio that there had been a 20 percent revenue drop at stores in larger cities.

With unions calling for two more days of national action - tomorrow and Thursday – France looks like it is set for further chaos, both in terms of transport and power struggles, as the week unfolds.