Government loans in time to stop strike (8)

'government loans in time' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'stop strike' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'stop' could be 'rest' (to take a rest is to stop) and 'rest' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'imps' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?