German unions yesterday said they had clinched a deal with employers giving public sector workers a “significant” salary boost, following a wave of strikes that hit airports, train stations, hospitals and daycares, reports AFP from Frankfurt Am Main.

The 2.3 million people working for state and local governments will see their wages increase in three stages between now and 2020, in an agreement Verdi union boss Frank Bsirske hailed as “the best result in many years”.

The deal, announced early Wednesday after talks that ran late into the night, will immediately give workers a 3.2-per cent salary hike backdated to March 1.

A 3.1-per cent increase will follow from April 2019, and another 1.1-per cent from March 2020.

The lowest-earning workers, such as refuse collectors, will get an additional one-time payment of 250 euros ($310).

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who represented federal employers in the negotiations, told reporters he was “very pleased” with the outcome.

The agreement will cost the state an additional 2.2 billion euros, and municipal employers some 7.5 billion, he said.