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Bloomberg: Work stoppages today focused on the Hamburg, Bavaria, Hesse and Berlin regions, Ver.di said. The union, preparing for renewed pay talks on Feb. 25, has rejected a proposed 5 percent more pay over two years as it presses for 8 percent over one year. "The pay demand stands," said Marina Soennichsen, a Ver.di spokeswoman. "Years of wage moderation have left millions of members out of pocket and we're very determined to call it a day." "We want as fair a slice of the cake as industry,"
German Public-Sector Workers Threaten More Strikes (Bloomberg) A fourth round of talks between labor unions and government representatives, led by Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, wound up today without employers making any new offer. Employees at the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden will go on strike as soon as Feb. 28, said Konrad Freiberg, chairman of the GDP police union. "Sentiment among workers is unlike anything I have seen in the past decades: it's agitated, clear and unequivocal," Frank Bsirske, head of the Ver.di union, told reporters. "Next week there will be token strikes, on several days, nationwide." Schaeuble, emerging from the negotiations after nearly six hours, said he will seek a resolution to the dispute in a fifth round of talks, scheduled for March 6-7. Yet employers won't increase their offer of 5 percent more pay in three steps, he said. That doesn't even cover increased living costs, said Bsirske. Ver.di, Germany's second-biggest union after IG Metall, and the DBB want 8 percent more pay, their biggest wage demand since 1992.