German construction workers granted pay raise

BERLIN (Reuters) — Around 760,000 German construction workers will get an inflation-busting 5.7 percent pay rise in two steps over this year and next, according to a preliminary agreement between employers and labour unions.

The workers will get 3.1 percent more pay from June and 2.6 percent more from June 2015, labour union IG Bau and employers agreed after more than 24 hours of talks in a fourth round of negotiations in Frankfurt. The deal is for 24 months.

Workers in eastern Germany will get an extra 0.7 percentage points on top of that to narrow the pay gap with their western counterparts in the long-term.

Construction workers had originally called for a 7 percent wage increase due to expectations of an upturn in the sector this year.

Both sides said the deal was preliminary. Employers said this was because further details needed to be clarified before the negotiating committee took a final vote on it on May 13.