P. M. BRIEFING : Strikes Halt British Rails, Libraries
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LONDON — Nationwide strikes by hundreds of thousands of employees today shut down the train system, the London subway, 37 ports and city libraries and day-care centers.
The stoppages are part of a wave of union militancy confronting Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government as it tries to halt inflation topping 8%. The rail and subway strike is the fifth joint 24-hour stoppage in five weeks.
Hopes were raised Monday that the rail strike could be averted when a second British Rail union accepted an 8.8% wage increase. However, the third and biggest union, the National Union of Railwaymen, rejected it late Monday night, holding out for a 10% raise for its 75,000 members.
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