
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990                   TAG: 9005180204
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA                                LENGTH: Short

SANDINISTAS CALL OFF WALKOUTS

An estimated 150,000 government employees returned to work Thursday, ending a weeklong strike that savaged Nicaragua's already crippled economy and hamstrung the new, U.S.-backed administration.

The huge walkouts were a victory for the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front, which engineered the strikes beginning Friday to press for job security and big pay increases.

The 3-week-old government of President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro promised not to fire those who walked off their jobs and agreed to double salaries for the public employees as part of the strike settlement.

Chamorro has devalued the cordoba, Nicaragua's currency, four times since she took office April 25; inflation however is averaging 70 percent monthly, in effect steadily reducing the real wages of workers in this nation of 3.5 million residents.

- Associated Press

by CNB