Local transport in Germany hit by walkouts in a dispute over working conditions

BERLIN (AP) — Local buses, trams and subway trains were canceled in much of Germany on Friday as transport employees walked off the job in the country’s third transport-related strike in two weeks. The Ver.di service workers’ union called Friday’s “warning strike,” a common tactic in German contract negotiations, earlier this week. It said that “the time has now come to exert more pressure on employers” as talks on new pay contracts for about 90,000 people employed by over 130 local transport operators have failed to make progress. The exact demands in the negotiations and the length of Friday’s walkouts varied from place to place.