German builders stage first strike in five years

BERLIN, Jun 18 (Reuters) Construction workers at more than 100 sites in two German states went on strike for the first time since 2002 today after employers there rejected a nationwide pay accord, the IG-BAU trade union said.

Union members voted to strike on Saturday after groups representing employers in the northwestern states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein earlier this month rejected the results of a mediation process overseen by Wolfgang Clement, a former economy minister.

''The industrial action will carry on until the employers have signed,'' IG-BAU chairman Klaus Wiesehuegel said today in the Lower Saxony state capital Hanover.

Germany's construction industry returned to growth last year after spending most of the previous decade in a recession which held back the country's economic expansion.

IG-BAU had agreed to a provisional deal, which included a 3.5 per cent wage rise for the 700,000 workers in the sector covering the period from June 1 until March 31, 2009.

But employers' groups in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein said the proposed wage deal was too high. The breakdown in the wage round followed months of talks.

IG-BAU said yesterday a ballot of members in the two states showed 87.9 per cent backed the strike.

Originally, the construction union had demanded a wage increase of 5.5 per cent while employers had said no more than 2 per cent was possible.

Last month, employers and unions in the metals and engineering industry agreed a pay deal in the key state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, centring on a 4.1 per cent wage increase from June, which paved the way for a nationwide agreement.

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