Inside Report (2)

July 16, 1982

Look, fellas, this is no way to run a rail strike!

The two biggest rail unions on strike in Britain have halted nine out of 10 British trains. A successful strike? Not exactly. The two unions - the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen covering 25,000 train drivers, and the much bigger National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), covering guards , signalmen, and other workers - are fighting among themselves. The British Railways Board threatens to close the entire network July 21 unless the unions go back to work and agree to flexible shifts instead of a traditional eight-hour day established in 1919.

The NUR has long wanted to include the drivers, and now strongly disapproves of the strike - it sees its own jobs at stake in a shutdown.