PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen unions approved the start of worker transfers from the French car maker's doomed Aulnay plant, sources said, effectively beginning the wind-down of the site ahead of schedule.

The Peugeot works council approved the transfers at a meeting on Friday, according to a union official and a person close to the situation.

The decision comes amid escalating tension between strikers and staff still reporting for duty at the factory north of Paris, which is earmarked for closure in 2014 under the company's restructuring plan.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume and Laurence Frost; Editing by David Goodman)