11.   Countering claims by strike leaders, Juppe said there are no plans to sell the state railroad, telephone or utility companies.

12.   Despite mounting calls for his resignation, Le Floch-Prigent has maintained his innocence and has refused to step down from his top job at the state railroad.

13.   Employees of private security firms and the state railroad company had joined striking construction and garment workers earlier Thursday.

14.   Employees of the state railroad have been staging strikes throughout Greece since the spring to protest changes in working hours and government plans to privatize the railroad.

15.   Even the state railroad pitched in, offering reduced fares for people traveling to a demonstration called for Sunday in downtown Brussels.

16.   Employees are protesting plans to downsize the state railroad.

17.   Feeling heat from the crippling strikes, Premier Alain Juppe this week withdrew his plan to trim down the money-losing state railroad.

18.   Even the state railroad got involved, offering reduced fares for people traveling to a demonstration planned for Sunday in downtown Brussels.

19.   However, officials at the state railroad company said the system was not yet operational.

20.   Hundreds of railroad workers marched in downtown Oslo and staged wildcat strikes around the country Monday to protest cost-cutting plans by the Norwegian state railroad NSB.