BERLIN, June 27 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Friday he hoped and expected a deal would be reached this week to end a strike in the east German engineering sector, which has hurt output in the country's key car industry.
"In the interest of the economic development and in east Germany in particular. I hope this conflict will be resolved as soon as possible," Schroeder told a news conference. "My hope and my expectation is that this can be solved this week."
Negotiations between engineering union IG Metall and employers re-started on Friday.
Workers at car and steel plants in the still depressed former communist east have been on strike since early June, demanding a reduction in the working week by three hours to the 35 hours which is standard for their western colleagues.