Here we go again: Strike snarls UK trains for a third day

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Train stations are all but deserted across Britain on the third day of a national strike that snarled the weekend plans of millions. Train companies said only a fifth of passenger services would run on Saturday. About 40,000 cleaners, signalers, maintenance workers and station staff have walked off the job in Britain’s biggest and most disruptive railway strike for 30 years. The same workers held 24-hour strikes on Tuesday and Thursday in a dispute over jobs, pay and working conditions. The rail union is seeking a substantial pay raise as workers face a cost-of-living squeeze. Train companies, meanwhile, are seeking to cut costs and staffing after two years in which emergency government funding kept them afloat during the pandemic.