But undeterred, he calculates public opinion will shift in his favour.
This is because polls show amid widespread dissatisfaction a massive 70 per cent back his rail reforms.
And many of the French now accept the country can no longer afford to spend a crippling 56 per cent of its GDP on the public sector.
Batting away swings in his popularity, Macron vowed to push forward with his reforms.
He said: “Some people are obsessed by [opinion polls], but what really counts is the work in depth you are doing for the country.”
The 40-year-old’s battle with rail unions is comparable to Margaret Thatcher’s, when the ex PM locked horns with British miners in the 1980s.
Unions have vowed to paralyse France with strikes unless Macron ends his plans to scrap jobs for life for 260,000 workers of the debt-ridden, state-owned SNCF rail and their right to retire in their 50s.
Other public sector unions are joining forces and threatening strikes as he plans to axe pensions to bring them into line with the private sector.
Critics have dubbed Macron the “president of the rich” after angry pensioners had their income cut following his tax reforms.
His stern stance on immigration infuriated liberals and young voters were horrified when he announced his plan to bring back national service.
Farmers furious with low producer prices booed him at a recent agricultural show.
However, his promise to deport migrants who fail to qualify for asylum won over a flurry of Front National supporters.