The Verdi union representing almost 600,000 workers said a series of rolling one-day strikes would start on Monday in the state of Saarland, moving on Tuesday to North-Rhine Westphalia.
Staffing in schools, hospitals and universities would be affected, and subsequent stoppages would be organized in Germany’s other regions, Verdi head Frank Bsirske said in Potsdam.
The union is pressing for a three percent pay rise over 14 months.
A second round of pay talks was adjourned on Friday after employers declined to present a pay offer and asked the union to scale down its demands.
Germany’s train drivers are also stepping up industrial action after a three-hour strike on Friday that hit regional and long-distance networks.
“Our employers have yet to get the message so we need to increase the pressure,” the head of the GDL union, Claus Weselsky, said in Frankfurt.
Friday’s strike was the second this week after a two-hour stoppage on Tuesday that affected rush-hour commuters.
The union wants pay scales for drivers at six small rail firms brought into line with those at Deutsche Bahn, as well as a higher wage offer from the state-owned national operator.
Weselsky said drivers would be balloted within 10 days on holding longer strikes.
The bulk of Germany’s workforce has accepted modest pay rises for two years due to the financial crisis, but many are now seeking to share in Germany’s faster than expected growth rebound, leading some economists to warn of a wage-price spiral.
Annual inflation in Europe’s dominant economy held at a multi-year high of two percent in February, data showed on Friday, and analysts said they expected it to accelerate in coming months.
German consumer morale is at its most optimistic for years, data from market research group GfK showed on Tuesday, due in part to workers being increasingly confident wages will rise in 2011.
Volkswagen and German unions set a precedent for inflation-busting pay rises earlier this month, agreeing to an increase of 3.2 percent.
