The people in Germany have to be prepared for further warning strikes. The Verdi services union called on all public employees in the Cologne, Bonn and Leverkusen metropolitan areas, among others, to go on an all-day warning strike on Monday. There will be significant restrictions on local public transport in the region. Verdi also announced work stoppages for Monday at the two largest airports in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne-Bonn and Düsseldorf.

The background is the negotiations for employees in the public sector at the federal and municipal level as well as the nationwide negotiations for employees in aviation security. Collective bargaining is currently being conducted for both groups of employees.

Verdi boss: Will up the ante

The second round of collective bargaining for around 2.5 million federal and local employees ended on Thursday without a result. Although the employers had submitted an offer, the unions immediately rejected this as insufficient and announced an extension of the warning strikes. Apparently, the past actions and protests were not enough to get employers to rethink, said Verdi boss Frank Werneke. "Then we'll up the ante."

Verdi and the civil servants' association dbb are demanding 10.5 percent more income, but at least 500 euros more per month. The employer side had rejected the demands as "unaffordable".

The negotiations concern, for example, educators, nurses, bus drivers, geriatric nurses, firefighters, garbage workers and a number of other professions that are employed by the federal government or in municipalities. A separate collective agreement applies to the employees of the federal states.