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To: Dennis O'Bell who wrote (173193)	6/17/2002 11:23:21 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 436258

Not only in France - German construction workers strike - anticipated 4% wage hike (inflation in Germany 1.6%) Copyright © 2002 AP Online By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press BERLIN (June 17, 2002 9:54 a.m. EDT) - German construction workers launched their first major strike in more than 50 years on Monday, following members of the country's main manufacturing union in walking out earlier this year to back up demands for higher wages. The IG BAU union said at least 8,000 workers stayed off the job at 400 sites in the capital, Berlin, as well as the northern city of Hamburg and the industrial Ruhr Valley area in the west. The walkouts came after a strike ballot last week produced a 98.63 percent vote in favor of industrial action. "We're going to step up the strikes in the next few days," union leader Klaus Wiesehuegel promised at a rally in front of Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate. "There must be a better offer from the employers, and at the moment I don't see one," he told reporters. About 100 union members, many waving red union flags and wearing white overalls emblazoned with the words "We're On Strike," gathered near the gate, itself surrounded by building sites. About 500 workers demonstrated at a construction site in Hamburg. The strike is the first large-scale action in the construction industry since 1949, and employers have argued that a strike is irresponsible while the sector remains mired in a slump. Germany's second-biggest construction firm, Philipp Holzmann AG, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Union officials are pushing for a 4.5 percent annual increase for Germany's 950,000 construction workers and for wages in the economically depressed east to be brought up to levels in the west. Employers have offered increases of 3 percent for the period from September 2002 until March 2003 and of 2.1 percent for the following 12 months. Last month, Germany's biggest factory workers union, IG Metall, secured a 4 percent wage increase for the coming year for workers in the automotive, engineering and electronics industries after staging brief strikes at companies including DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen's Audi division. The country's bank workers also are voting on whether to strike. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, on the defensive over the sluggish economy and stubbornly high unemployment ahead of Sept. 22 elections, has urged the parties in the construction industry to settle their difference. Economists and business leaders warn that a prolonged dispute or excessive pay award could hold back a hoped-for recovery in the economy. "At the moment, there's nothing to share around in a construction sector in crisis," said lawmaker Rainer Bruederle of the pro-business, opposition Free Democrats. "Many building workers could pay for a few tenths of a percent more in wages with their jobs." The talks broke down June 1 after a failed arbitration attempt. About one-third of IG BAU's 340,000 members in the construction industry voted in the strike ballot, most of them employees of large firms. Under German law, a wage deal for union members would apply for all workers in the sector.

To: Dennis O'Bell who wrote (173193)	6/17/2002 1:55:00 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 436258

Italy strikes to cause month of travel disruptions June 17, 2002 06:36 AM ET Email this article Printer friendly version ROME, June 17 (Reuters) - Travellers to and around Italy are set for a disruptive few weeks in June and July with workers in the airline, train, local transport and ferry industries planning a series of strikes. Air traffic controllers plan to kick off on Wednesday with an hour-long interruption to services, a spokeswoman for ENAV, Italy's air controllers, said on Monday. The protest, part of a trans-European strike, is aimed at European Union plans to reform airspace management, which controllers say threatens air security. Similar action is planned in France, Greece and Portugal and a second, four-hour stoppage in Italy is set for June 26. On June 21, public transport workers in cities throughout Italy are set to walk off the job for eight hours as part of a contract dispute, and will follow up with a second, four-hour strike on July 11. Pilots for national flag carrier Alitalia have said they would not fly for four hours on June 28 to protest against pay and conditions, and all air transport workers will strike for four hours on July 12 and July 19. As for trains, the union representing railway stationmasters has called a 24-hour strike for June 22-23 and all rail workers will walk off the job for four hours on July 5, as part of protests against government plans to alter workers' rights. As well as taking part in the July 5 work stoppage, unions representing ferry and other maritime workers plan to strike for half a day on July 8, again against government proposals to make it easier to hire and fire workers. About a quarter of Italy's workforce walked off the job two months ago in a general strike organised by the country's three largest unions against the government labour changes. It was Italy's biggest one-day strike for 20 years.