German air traffic controllers to stage walkout  this week

Germany's air traffic controllers' union reject employer's offer,and  decided Monday to stage a walkout this week which could severely disrupt flights across Europe.

The GdF union said its board has rejected the management's latest offer. However, it added that it is still prepared to comply with a request from the federal government and meet once again for talks with an arbiter.

The state-run DFS air traffic control agency had no immediate comment on the strike announcement.

The union said over the weekend that a strike could take place as early as Wednesday. A strike must be announced with 24 hours notice, and the union did not immediately elaborate whether it was planning short walkouts in a few regions, or a full-scale strike across Germany.

The DFS agency sent the dispute over pay and working conditions to arbitration in early August, but the union partly rejected the outcome a month later.

New negotiations based on the arbitration's result broke down late Friday. Both sides have accepted the arbiter's compromise of a general salary raise of 5.2 percent, but the union wants more people to be promoted faster.

The DFS agency has about 6,000 employees, coordinating about 10,000 flights a day, making Germany's skies Europe's busiest.

(VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS)