5th Transport Strike in 5 Weeks Grips Britain
LONDON — Nationwide strikes shut down railways, the London subway, 37 ports, city libraries and day-care centers Tuesday.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, trying to reduce the 8% annual inflation rate, faces labor unrest from local government employees, bus mechanics, ambulance crews and others seeking higher pay and other concessions. Two royal parks, Hyde Park and Regent’s Park, were turned into emergency parking lots for commuters suffering through the fifth one-day railway and subway strike in five weeks.
On Monday night, the 75,000-member National Union of Railwaymen rejected a revised 8.8% raise offer from state-owned British Rail. The 17,500-member Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen had accepted the offer earlier in the day.
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