Economic austerity plans are arousing the ire of trade unions across continental Europe, although the degree of militancy varies widely.

France’s trade unions are to hold a further day of strikes and mass protests on September 23 against pension reforms. The unions have set a target of mobilising more than the 1.1m-2.7m people who took part in nationwide demonstrations last week and have warned of more hardline tactics – including open ended strikes – if the government does not back down.

In Spain, where the Socialist government has embarked on a particularly rigorous austerity plan, unions have called a general strike for September 29 to protest against everything from labour market liberalisation to an increase in the retirement age. Cándido Méndez, leader of the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), the second largest trade union, complained of “a flood of unjustified and unjust measures”.

However, with unemployment at 20 per cent of the workforce, ordinary Spaniards seem to have little appetite for militant protests. A recent opinion poll showed that only 9 per cent of those questioned this month definitely planned to take part in the strike, down from 15 per cent in July.

In Greece, there were long queues on Monday outside petrol stations around Athens as militant truck-drivers resumed protests against the liberalisation of transport services by blocking access to distribution outlets.

The truckers’ protests kicked off a fresh round of industrial action against structural and fiscal reforms being undertaken by the socialist government in return for a €110bn bail-out package by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

In Thessaloniki at the weekend, a prominent local doctor and founder member of the Patriotic Front, a new political group, threw a shoe at George Papandreou, the prime minister, as he prepared to deliver a landmark economic policy speech. About 20,000 anti-austerity demonstrators marched through the city centre on Saturday evening. There were a few scuffles with police, but it was generally peaceful.

PAME, the militant communist-led union, on Monday launched its autumn protest season announcing a demonstration in central Athens on September 23, “to combat policies and actions that are causing an explosion of unemployment and hardship”.