HAMBURG/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The trade union Verdi is calling for all-day warning strikes in the Port of Hamburg. Work stoppages this Tuesday and Wednesday are intended to increase the pressure on employers in the wage negotiations for employees in seaports, the union announced in Berlin. The warning strikes are to begin on Tuesday with the early shift, it said. The employees have been called upon to strike in front of their companies in the port of Hamburg, and on Wednesday there will be a demonstration through the city.

"We were still far apart in the third round of negotiations," said Verdi negotiator Maren Ulbrich. She described an offer presented by the employers as unacceptable. The fourth round of negotiations between Verdi and the Central Association of German Seaport Operators (ZDS) is planned for July 11 and 12 in Bremen. Warning strikes had already taken place in several northern German ports in June.

Verdi is demanding, among other things, an increase in hourly wages of three euros retroactively to June 1 as well as a corresponding increase in shift bonuses for the employees for a term of the collective agreement of twelve months. The inflation of recent years has hit the lower wage groups particularly hard, said Ulbrich./als/DP/he