41.   Boeing has offered mostly selective pay hikes, reductions in life insurance benefits and some changes in health insurance.

42.   Boeing has insisted on mostly selective pay hikes, reductions in life insurance benefits and some changes in health insurance.

43.   But unions in Pusan, Taegu, Kwangju and Inchon either accepted lower pay hikes or shelved their strike plans while continuing negotiations with their companies.

44.   Doctors and dentists employed in the public sector went on a one-day strike across Croatia Friday, demanding pay hikes of over double the average salary.

45.   Eight percent is a limit set by the government for pay hikes to fight inflation.

46.   Employers and many economists scoff, saying a big pay hike could squelch growth as the economy crawls out of recession.

47.   Employees have been protesting efforts to streamline the loss-making company, and workers unions have demanded pay hikes and guarantees they will not lose benefits.

48.   Farrelly promised the pay hikes as a pre-election ploy to boost the election chances of his lieutenant governor, Derek Hodge, who was running for governor.

49.   Future pay hikes will be linked to the inflation rate.

50.   He also clarified that the staff had not asked for a pay hike but a separate scheme from the existing one for civil servants.