Unionists have been split over how to respond to Macron's shake-up of France's famously inflexible labour code, with the hardline CGT organising mass protests but others showing willingness to compromise.
![Begging migrant children are treated particularly cruelly [Vecteezy]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Begging migrant children are treated particularly cruelly [Vecteezy]")
Officials from eight major unions including the CGT and CFDT were meeting outside Paris in a bid to start thrashing out their differences.
CGT chief Philippe Martinez said one of main objectives was to "organise a major day of action to bring together everyone's frustrations".
The meeting comes as nine unions representing 5.4 million public workers call for a day of nationwide strikes and demonstrations Tuesday to show their "profound disagreement" with Macron's bid to transform the gargantuan public service.
Civil servants are angered by Macron's plans to freeze their pay, while the wider public sector is set to see 120,000 jobs slashed by 2022.
Tuesday will be the fourth time opponents of Macron's cost-cutting, pro-business agenda have taken to the streets since he came to power in May.
For the first time since 2009, hospital unions have called on medical staff to walk off the job.
Schools are also set to be affected and trains and flights are expected to be delayed.
Thirty percent of flights in and out of Paris and other major cities have been cancelled.
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