Strike For Pay Hike Broadens In Turkey

About 45,000 disgruntled workers walked off their jobs at railroads, dockyards, tire and steel factories on Monday to join a 6-day-old strike for higher wages.

Some 235,000 workers are now striking throughout the country in hopes of 72 percent pay raises to match the inflation level between July 1984 and July 1995, union officials said.

The number of strikers will gradually increase to 350,000 by Oct. 2, union officials said. The government refuses to offer more than a 5.4 percent raise.