Threat of bank strike takes shine off euro for French

French bank and postal workers plan to go ahead with a strike today, giving French consumers a potential headache on the first…

French bank and postal workers plan to go ahead with a strike today, giving French consumers a potential headache on the first business day after the launch of euro cash.

The planned strike over pay could add to the disruption banks and post offices already experienced yesterday, when automatic cash dispensers were occasionally unable to cope with demand for the new currency.

Unions have warned that industrial action would be most severe at banks where there had been no pay deal whatever in the old year and, with financial institutions in Marseille, Toulouse in the south and Lyon in the east expected to be worst hit.

"The situation will vary depending on whether there's been a pay deal and on what the job security and working conditions are like locally," Force Ouvriere (FO) union representative Pierre Gendre said.

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Postal workers are also expected to strike today after three unions appealed for industrial action, all but shutting down mail delivery and counter service - including bank services - around France.

One of the three unions, the CFDT, has also warned its strike action, affecting counter personnel, cashiers and management would extend into tomorrow.

But the introduction of the euro was hailed by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who confessed to being "somewhat moved" as he had a first real taste of the euro on a visit to shops in Paris's Montmartre district.

"We just have to say adieu to the franc. It was a good friend, even if it was devalued a few times," he said. Many in France see the euro as a key step in 50 years of efforts to bind Germany into an unbreakable alliance after centuries of war.

Bank unions said strike action was likely to be most severe at Credit Lyonnais, Societe Generale and Credit du Nord - all three private banks - and at the Caisse d'Epargne co-operative bank, none of which had clinched a pay deal.

"The strike (at the Caisse d'Epargne) will probably continue on January 3rd because the management hasn't given any sign of wanting to negotiate," FO representative Christian Vaccaro said, adding that no date had been fixed for the strike there to end.

Mr Gendre said workers were also likely to walk out at the CIC and CCF banks but that some staff at France's largest bank, BNP-Paribas, might still turn up for work.

Management and unions reached pay deals in December at BNP-Paribas, CIC and Credit Agricole.

In Brussels, meanwhile, Belgian shoppers were navigating their way round the new currency .

With most Belgian shops and banks closed on the first day of the year, it was left to corner shops - the greengrocer and the baker - to bear the brunt of the first fumblings in the euro notes and coinage.

There was little evidence of any price hikes on ordinary day-to-day goods, with many shopkeepers sticking religiously to the official conversion from Belgian francs to euro - even if it made things awkward for the customer.

One woman buying a small cake in a "patisserie" near the centre of Brussels wanted to know why the new price €1.49 euro had not been rounded up to €1.50, to make life easier.

"The price marked is the exact conversion - I'm not going to be accused of taking advantage of my clients," said the man behind the counter.

Many shopkeepers were avoiding giving away all their new coins and notes too quickly.

Many Belgian cash points were empty by this morning, denuded fast by customers in the hours after midnight.

Queues formed at thousands of bank outlets as people rushed to be among the first to withdraw the new euro notes.

People even took photographs of their friends and relatives as they took out the crisp new bank notes - and carefully pocketed the receipts as souvenirs of the momentous occasion.