The government would be foolish to ignore the very sincere feelings... of those millions who are fed up with the way prices are continuing to rise Jack Jones, leader of TGWU Union

The rail strike affected the Post Office and has resulted in a huge backlog of mail - even though members of the two largest Post Office unions did not join the day of action.

British Leyland car plants were severely hit by the strike by engineering workers in the Midlands, North-West and Scotland.

Vauxhall, Ford and Chrysler plants were also at a standstill losing the companies millions of pounds.

Other major engineering factories affected were Rolls-Royce at Bristol, GEC at Trafford Park, Manchester, Hawker Siddley and British Aircraft Corporation in the North-West and Dunlop tyres at Birmingham and Speke.

British Steel Corporation saw 30,000 of its 230,000 workers walk out and 113 of the National Coal Board's 281 pits were on strike with further support for the action in South Wales and Scotland.

Strikes were accompanied by huge protest rallies in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.

In Liverpool, the leader of the Transport and General Workers Union, Jack Jones, told supporters: "The government would be foolish to ignore the very sincere feelings not only of those protesting today but those millions of others who are fed up with the way prices are continuing to rise."

A new round of talks is due to take place later this month between the government and the TUC over counter-inflation measures.

	E-mail this story to a friend