Four public sector unions in New Caledonia are to stage an indefinite general strike from today.
This comes as workers are unhappy with provisions of a retirement scheme and demand that more contract workers be admitted.
Union leaders had said earlier that the absence from the territory of President Pierre Frogier and the minister in charge of the scheme, Pierre Maresca, made strike action more likely.
A union leader, Joao d'Almeida, says the provisions of the scheme are unacceptable and amount to a social setback.
