 Deutsche Telekom is worried about the impact on the G8 summit |
A strike among Deutsche Telekom employees has widened with about 15,000 staff now going on strike across Germany, unions have said. Workers began walking out on Friday, angry at plans to move many of them from its fixed-line business, T-Com, into lower-paying subsidiaries.
It is the firm's first major industrial dispute since it was privatised.
The services union Verdi says that call centres, technical support and cable installation have been hit.
Deutsche Telekom has appealed to the union not to disrupt next week's G8 summit being held in Heiligendamm in the north of the country.
Determined
The firm has 80,000 staff at T-Com, whereas Telefonica in Spain has about 28,000 employees in its equivalent fixed-line business.
Verdi said that 11,000 workers joined the dispute on Friday.
It says it is determined to strike until the company improves an offer that includes increasing weekly working hours to 38 from 34 and a gradual pay cut of 9%.
Last week, Deutsche Telekom reported a 58% fall in three-month profits, after more than half a million customers left its fixed-line business to join cheaper rivals.
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