Thousands of employees at German telco giant Deutsche Telekom have gone on strike in the country.

Workers have taken industrial action this week, with workers on strike today (May 12).

The strikes have been led by the union ver.di following three rounds of negotiations over pay.

According to ver.di, strikes took place over two days this week, yesterday (May 11) and today, after talks had stalled with Deutsche Telekom.

Deutsche Telekom is the largest telco operator in Germany, employing approximately 70,000 people. The carrier has around 75 million mobile subscribers in Germany.

The strikes follow industrial action last week, where initial strike action involved around 10,000 people, before ver.di extended the industrial action on May 7.

It comes as ver.di is pushing for a 6.6 percent pay increase and a membership bonus for around 60,000 employees covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Ver.di noted that employees from Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and North Rhine-Westphalia were on strike yesterday.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom employees in Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg are set to strike today.

Ver.di said that around 3,000 workers gathered for a rally in Potsdam last week, where negotiations had been held. Following this, ver.di stated that no offer was put forward by the mobile carrier.

“Our colleagues perceive the employers’ stalling tactics as a sign of a lack of appreciation,” says ver.di negotiator Frank Sauerland. “They have achieved record results for the company over the past two years. Nevertheless, the employers have failed to make an offer in two rounds of negotiations. It is now up to the employers to send a signal of their willingness to negotiate. We expect an offer at last.”

Warning strikes, as ver.di describes them, first took place on April 28, with around 9,000 taking part.

“Certain disruptions for Telekom customers are unavoidable – but our primary goal is to send a signal to the employers to present a negotiable offer in the collective bargaining negotiations,” said Pascal Röckert, strike leader, ver.di.

DCD has contacted Deutsche Telekom for comment.