Berlin, October 13 (RHC)-- Train drivers from the German GDL union say they are planning to stage a fresh strike later this month as they continue their fight for higher wages and better working conditions. The executive committee of the GDL held a ballot among union leaders and announced their decision to carry out the strike action, English-language digital news publisher The Local reported.

The GDL demands a five-percent salary increase for the drivers and two hours less work per week. But Deutsche Bahn’s management has offered a 1.9-percent pay increase.

The report came several weeks after pilots at the flag carrier of Germany, Lufthansa, staged an eight-hour strike. The walkout at Munich airport, which is Germany's second-busiest airport, canceled 140 flights, affected some 15,300 passengers and cost Lufthansa tens of millions of euros.

The Vereinigung Cockpit, the union representing pilots at Lufthansa, has been in months of negotiations with the airline over plans to change the early retirement policy. The union is demanding reinstatement of a benefit that formerly allowed pilots to choose early retirement at 60 on partial pay. Lufthansa wants all fit pilots to keep flying until the age of 65.

Lufthansa pilots carried out a three-day nationwide strike in April over the early retirement scheme. The walkout, the biggest in company’s history, caused 90 percent of Lufthansa flights to be canceled. The carrier later announced that strike had it cost millions of dollars in lost business.