Hundreds of industrial workers walked off their jobs briefly Sunday in the first wave of warning strikes aimed at winning wage increases they maintain are their slice of the profits from Germany's economic upturn. Some 800 workers in the western state of Rheinland-Palatinate staged union-organized hour-long strikes at auto parts supplier Continental AG and other industrial plants, among the first to launch a wave of walkouts expected to spread throughout the coming week. Workers in Lower Saxony and Berlin also walked off their jobs for an hour, gathering at rallies set up outside factory gates, according to AP. The IG Metall union is seeking a 6.5-percent wage increase this year for 3.4 million manufacturing workers, arguing that a large rise is justified by the nation's economic recovery after years of stagnation. It has rejected an offer employers made last month of a 3-percent increase _ made up of a formal salary rise of 2.5 percent and a half-percent «economy bonus.» The next round of talks is scheduled to take place on Thursday. A union leader insisted employers were to blame for the strikes. -- SPA
