German Construction Workers to Strike
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German construction workers are set to strike for the first time in post-war history today in a pay dispute that marks the latest round of labor unrest in a turbulent election year.
The strike in the building sector comes at an awkward moment for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is fighting an uphill battle to win re-election in September and only recently began closing the gap in surveys on his challenger Edmund Stoiber.
The IG Bau union said several thousand workers at building sites in Berlin and Hamburg will walk off the job and the strikes gradually will be expanded nationwide.
The union, which represents 340,000 of the 950,000 workers in the sector, said Saturday that workers voted by an overwhelming 98.6% majority to strike.
The union is seeking a 4.5% pay increase for its members whose contracts ended in March. Employers offered a 3% raise starting in September and a one-off payment of $94.54 in August, effectively a 1.7% rise.
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