Portuguese strike staged by Communist-led union

Civil servants belonging to a Communist-led trade union movement began a three-day strike in Portugal Tuesday, paralyzing ports and threatening meat and milk shortages as slaughterhouses and dairies closed down. The union, the Intersindical Trade Union Federation, called out its 400,000 civil service members to protest a government decision, announced last week, to break off annual pay negotiations and impose a raise of about 17 percent. The civil service unions want a 22 percent raise.