FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - German workers in steel, retail and public service sectors have declared they will either launch or widen warning strikes nationwide in a bid to push for wage hikes ranging 4.5-12.00 pct.
Ver.di trade union said the public service sector warning strikes will start tomorrow with hospital employees stopping their work for a limited number of hours in the rich industrial region of Bavaria and in Hesse, home of Frankfurt's bourse and the country's banking capital.
Ver.di said it will target next week children day-care centres, savings banks and commuter transport systems in these two regions.
The public sector workers have rejected the average 5 pct wage hike being proposed by state and municipal governments, saying this falls short of their demands for an 8 pct increase.
A spokesman for the public sector employer representative described the union plans for warning strikes as a 'play for power'.
In Berlin, workers of the capital's transport system BVG are in the midst today of a 10-hour warning strikes being staged at the main administrative office and in repair shops. They kept buses, trams and underground commuter railways running this time.
On Feb 1-2, BVG -- which is seeking 8-12 pct more money for its 11,500 workers -- had staged a 39-hour warning strike that paralyzed the city's transportation system.
Pay bargaining talks for around 120,000 workers in the western region's textile and clothing industries have adjourned their negotiations today, with employers rebuffing IG Metall trade union's demand for a 5.5 pct wage increase.
The employers group, who have yet to make a counter-offer, said they cannot afford to pay those levels because revenues have been declining.
Ver.di said warning strikes in the retail industry will be expanded beyond the regions of Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland Palatinate and will now include the federal state of Thuringia.
The industrial action in the retail industry is aimed at hitting Metro AG as well as supermarket chains affiliated with Karstadt and branches of Globus, Kaufland and Ikea, Ver.di said.
Ver.di has been demanding since April 2007 between 4.5 pct and 6.5 pct more wages for 2.6 mln workers in the retail branch. The employer group had offered only 1.7 pct hike.
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