French President Emmanuel Macron has defended his government's pension reform plan, which proposes raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, in a letter to workers' unions.
He argued that making the French work a little longer was necessary to ensure the sustainability of the pension system and rejected suggestions of decreasing pensions or raising taxes as alternatives.
Over a million people protested across the country against the plan, leading to widespread strikes and union demands for the withdrawal of the bill.
French train and metro workers, as well as refinery workers, have gone on open-ended strikes.
Unions have called for more protests on Saturday.
According to the CFE-CGC union leader, Macron's letter "appeared to be another missed opportunity", adding that Macron could have listened to workers' concerns while pursuing reforms.