(The Sarasota Herald-Tribune posted the following Associated Press article on its website on March 7.)
BERLIN — The German railroad and unions representing its 160,000 staff agreed Friday to hold new pay negotiations next week in an effort to avert large-scale strikes.
The Transnet and GDBA unions are seeking a 5 percent pay rise from rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which says a big hike could force it to lay off more staff.
Transnet chief Norbert Hansen said he was confident the two sides will reach a settlement in the talks next Friday, but warned that the unions are “absolutely ready to mobilize” if negotiations break down. They already have called for a big demonstration in Berlin the same day.
Following a series of stoppages over the past week, Transnet and GDBA said they would not stage any further strikes before next Friday’s talks.
An early-morning strike before the latest negotiations started Thursday caused the delay or cancellation of about 1,000 trains and disrupted more than 1 million travelers across Germany.
Later Thursday, a smaller union representing train engineers walked out of the talks and said it would go into arbitration talks next week.
Deutsche Bahn has proposed a three-year agreement under which a 1.3 percent raise this year would be followed by further increases of 2 percent from May next year and 1.8 percent from May 2005.
It also is offering steps to bring wages in the former communist east into line with those in the west and bonus payments when earnings improve.