Transit strike compounds Portuguese labor crisis

A public-transportation strike left an estimated 4 million passengers stranded in Portugal Thursday as labor unrest spread through key sectors of the economy.

The wave of strikes has left Prime Minister Francisco Pinto Balsemao increasingly isolated and has provided ammunition to right-wing critics accusing him of being too weak with the left. At the same time, the ruling Democratic Alliance's own moderate supporters in the trade union movement have broken off negotiations with the government in what could be the most discruptive dispute of all, involving 400,000 civil servants.