21.   The union opted for a wage hike instead.

22.   The UPS strike, Challenger said, could be a harbinger of wage hikes that might pressure the Fed to hike interest rates as a brake on inflation.

23.   The wage hike should be approved without such tax breaks.

24.   Various conservative studies also argued that the wage hike would mostly benefit teenagers from affluent families.

25.   Western analysts note that wages hikes in Japan have failed to keep pace with retail price increases.

26.   Workers who may be displaced by a wage hike would have a fairly easy time finding other employment.

27.   Parliament approved a newly appointed defense minister Friday and pushed through a controversial wage hike for the president.

28.   According to Bhoka, FSPSI should have been consulted if the government decided to postpone the announcement of the wage hike.

29.   According to Hamami, people who stage protests demanding a wage hike would be punished under a different law.

30.   Also Friday, deputies of the ruling party handily pushed through a controversial wage hike for Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and members of parliament.