BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - While rail and air traffic quickly resumed on Tuesday after the 24-hour warning strike, there was little movement at the negotiating table in the public sector wage dispute. The bargaining parties Verdi and the civil servants' association, as well as the federal government and local authorities, were far apart in their positions, according to negotiating circles. The day before, they had suspended their talks behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, most transport providers reported a quick and largely smooth restart of travel and flight operations on Tuesday morning.

Verdi and the civil servants' union, together with the rail union EVG, had brought public transport to a virtual standstill with a nationwide warning strike on Monday. In addition to long-distance and regional rail services, most German airports except Berlin and shipping were affected.

There was hardly any sign of this on Tuesday. Deutsche Bahn said that only a few long-distance journeys had been cancelled in the morning hours. Regional and suburban trains had already resumed operations in many places on Monday afternoon. In freight traffic, too, all supply-relevant trains had already been able to run again during the night. The backlog at the marshalling yards caused by the strike should be completely cleared in the course of Tuesday.

Airports, including Germany's largest in Frankfurt, also resumed operations. A total of 1118 aircraft movements with about 157,000 passengers were scheduled in Frankfurt on Tuesday, including nearly 3,800 who could not have flown earlier due to the strike, a spokeswoman for operator Fraport said. In the morning, there were about 40 cancellations. These were partly due to the consequences of the strike.

With the warning strikes, EVG and Verdi wanted to increase the pressure on the employers in their respective wage disputes. In the railroads, the next round begins on Wednesday with gradually about 50 companies for about 230,000 employees. The largest employer is Deutsche Bahn. Here, negotiations are to continue at the end of April.

A Deutsche Bahn spokesman again called for an earlier meeting. "We must negotiate now and not take an Easter break," he said. "We have to come to a solution quickly at the negotiating table."

EVG collective bargaining director Kristian Loroch responded, "We have ruled out negotiations around Easter from the outset." Again, he emphasized that thus no further warning strikes were planned over the holidays. The EVG demanded significantly better offers from all companies for the next round, or an initial offer at all.

The EVG demands at least 650 euros more per month for all employees or twelve percent more money for the upper wage groups. Deutsche Bahn has offered, among other things, to raise wages in two steps by a total of five percent. In addition, one-off payments totaling 2,500 euros have been promised. The EVG rejects this.

Meanwhile, Verdi and the civil servants' association have been negotiating with the federal and local governments since Monday in the third round for the approximately 2.5 million public sector employees in Potsdam. The unions are demanding 10.5 percent more, or at least 500 euros more per month, over a twelve-month period. Employers are offering 5 percent more in two steps over a term of 27 months. The municipalities and the federal government are rejecting a minimum amount, but are offering one-off payments of 1,500 euros initially and another 1,000 euros later.

It remains to be seen whether a compromise can be reached in the third round, which is scheduled to end on Wednesday. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser had expressed "great confidence" at the start on Monday that there would be a solution this week.

If no breakthrough is achieved, a ballot among the unions on enforcement strikes could follow. Public transport and numerous other areas such as daycare centers, clinics or garbage collection could again be affected. But it does not have to result in new strikes if both sides part company without compromise. The day before, the head of the civil servants' association, Ulrich Silberbach, had already speculated about a possible mediation./maa/DP/he