Germany's national railway on Thursday made an increased offer in a wage dispute with unions that have staged a series of strikes this week, REPORTED AP. Two unions said they would halt strike action and resume negotiations with Deutsche Bahn AG, which offered employees a 3.4 percent increase _ just under half what they have demanded. The new offer foresees the increase taking effect Jan. 1, with workers also receiving a one-time payment of ¤450 (US$613). However, it also would see the working week extended to 40 hours from the present 39. The Transnet and GDBA unions have called for a 7 percent increase for some 134,000 workers at Deutsche Bahn, citing healthy earnings at Deutsche Bahn. They launched a campaign of limited walkouts on Monday. The company previously had offered a 2-percent raise in January and one-time extra payments of ¤300 (US$400). Transnet acknowledged that the new offer was improvement, but negotiator Alexander Kirchner still said that «the percentages are not enough.» Deutsche Bahn representatives were also meeting Thursday with a third union, GDL, which represents many of its train drivers and caused disruption with a four-hour walkout of its own earlier this week. GDL wants a separate wage agreement for its members and is seeking wage increases of up to 31 percent for some drivers _ demands that Deutsche Bahn so far has rejected.
