Public sector workers in Germany have picked up where they left off last week, with a new round of work stoppages to push for a five percent wage hike.

In Hanover, the capital of the state of Lower Saxony, buses and underground trains remained in their depots.

Bus and tram drivers failed to show up for work in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate too. In the state capital, Mainz, employees of clinics and municipal offices, as well as garbage collectors and other public sector workers were also planning to stage a temporary work stoppage.

Further action was planned in the northern states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Westpomerania, Hamburg and Bremen. Work stoppages were also set to affect the states of Brandenburg and Thuringia.

The services trade union Ver.di and the German Civil Servants’ Federation called the work stoppages to underline their demands for a pay rise of five per cent for the country’s roughly two million public sector employees.

The employers have rejected the demand but have not yet made a counter-offer.

Last week, thousands of public sector workers staged temporary strikes, bringing buses and trams in many towns and cities in various other parts of the country to a standstill.

The strikes also disrupted day-care centers, municipal offices, garbage collection, swimming pools, theaters and museums.

A third round of wage negotiations is due to begin in Potsdam on Wednesday.

rb/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Chuck Penfold