German public employees expanded their week-old strike to much of the country Monday in a deepening dispute over plans to make some of them work 40 hours a week compared to their current 38.5 hours. Public workers in nine of Germany's 16 states were to stop work Monday, compared to only two last week in what is already the biggest stoppage in public services for 14 years.
See "German Public Workers Expand Strike", Associated Press, The New York Times, February 12, 2006