Civil servants in France staged a one-day stoppage on Tuesday, joining the students, as well as transport and energy workers in protests against the reforms planned by president Nikolas Sarkozy, who so far has kept a low media profile on the issue.

Transport workers are protesting for the second week against planned pension cuts, with energy workers joining them on Monday, the BBC reported.

Students are blocking access to half of the country's 85 university campuses, as a sign of protest again against the cabinet's decision to seek non-government funding.

Now civil servants, who number more than five million and make up close a quarter of the country's workforce, are ready to join in, opposing the planned pay and job cuts.

Sarkozy was elected on the back of his promise to reform France's flailing social and economic model in May, but his approval rating has fallen from 65% in July to 50%, according to data from French pollster CSA.

The French president, however, has been conspicuously absent from media limelight over the past weeks as he attempts to succeed where his reform-minded predecessors have failed.

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