BERLIN/BONN (dpa-AFX) - In the wage dispute at Deutsche Telekom, the trade union Verdi is once again calling on the company's employees to take part in nationwide warning strikes on Monday. "The employers' offer so far is far from sufficient to meet the employees' expectations. There must be significant movement in the decisive round of negotiations if a longer conflict is to be averted," said strike leader Pascal Rockert on Friday.

Telekom and Verdi will meet in Potsdam on Monday and Tuesday for the fourth round of negotiations. The union is demanding a pay rise of 12 percent, but at least 400 euros per month, for around 70,000 employees of the Telekom group throughout Germany. Telekom had recently offered to increase salaries by 4.2 percent from 2025. This year, there is to be a tax-free inflation compensation bonus of 2000 euros. Verdi rejected the offer as insufficient.

The union had already organized a nationwide warning strike this week. According to its own information, around 13,000 employees took part. Verdi subsequently described the strike measures as effective. There had been enormous waiting times in customer service, technician appointments had had to be canceled and some T-shops had been closed./cr/DP/nas