Collective bargaining negotiations for public sector workers have been going on for three days in Potsdam, and continued during Sunday night into Monday morning.
DPA reported that an agreement was still not in sight. If an agreement cannot be reached before negotiations are paused, there would very likely be more strikes across Germany this week.
What's being discussed?
A round of collective bargaining negotiations is taking place which affects the income and working hours of more than 2.5 million federal and local government employees in important jobs from daycare to garbage collection.
The trade unions Verdi and Dbb Beamtenbund originally demanded a wage increase of eight percent, or at least €350 euros more per month, as well as at least three additional days off per year.
The negotiations are being conducted by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Association of Municipal Employers' Associations (VKA).
The unions reportedly made new proposals on Sunday evening, which were seen as a step towards reaching an agreement with employers, but have still not resulted in an agreement.
Employers' have described the original demands of the trade unions as unfinanceable. They said the core demands would cost €15 billion euros a year for the municipalities.
Another sticking point was the demand for more days off, with employers arguing that it would result in restricted services - for example, reduced daycare opening hours.
Three rounds of negotiations
The talks in Potsdam, which began on Friday, mark the third round of negotiations.
As negotiations have dragged on workers represented by Verdi and other trade unions have ramped up warning strikes, which have seen cancelled flights, restricted public transportation in cities, and impacted day cares, hospitals and waste collection services among others.
If negotiators cannot reach an agreement, an adjournment of the talks is likely. In that case, further warning strikes in the public sector would be expected again this week.
Alternatively, if one side declares a failure of the negotiations, then the talks would go to an arbitration process and there would be no further warning strikes for the time being.
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With reporting by DPA.
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