World Notes YUGOSLAVIA

Strikes are supposed to be impossible in a Communist state, but that did not prevent 11,000 workers from walking off their jobs last week in Yugoslavia to protest measures that have effectively frozen wages for public employees. The belt-tightening moves, which included a rollback of recent pay raises, began in February when Prime Minister Branko Mikulic tried to curb an annual inflation rate that approaches nearly 100%. The economic measures are so unpopular that even Communist Party officials criticized them, and some observers predicted further strikes when 3.5 million more workers are affected this month.