STRIKES AGAINST WAGE FREEZE SPREAD IN YUGOSLAVIA
Strikes against a government freeze on
wages spread to most regions of Yugoslavia last week, the
official news agency Tanjug said last night.
    It said thousands of workers were involved, and officials
feared more strikes were on the way.
    At least 60 strikes have taken place around Yugoslavia in
the past two weeks, but most of those previously reported were
in the northern republic of Croatia.
    Prime Minister Branko Mikulic imposed the wage freeze last
month in an effort to curb rampant inflation, now running at an
annual rate of almost 100 pct.
    The government froze wages at their level in the fourth
quarter of 1986 and said any future rises must be linked to
productivity.
    The measure met widespread disapproval. Even some senior
executives of major industrial enterprises have criticised the
freeze in interviews with Tanjug.
    The agency said strikes took place last week in the
southern republic of Montenegro and the predominantly ethnic
Albanian province of Kosovo. In the central republic of Bosnia
and Hercegovina 1,700 workers struck, while many teachers in
Belgrade refused to take their paychecks.
    Earlier, Yugoslav journalists, who asked to remain
anonymous, told Reuters they had been barred from strike-hit
factories.
    They said they had been told they could not enter without
permits, whereas before the strikes no permits had been
necessary to visit factories.
 REUTER
