FRANKFURT -- A leading German workers union will ask for pay hikes of more than 6.5% in the next round of contract talks, the union chairman Berthold Huber told a local newspaper.

The two-year contract signed by IG Metall, a union that represents three million metal and electronics workers, expires in October. The union is to expected to declare its wage demands next month, according to published reports.

In the contract signed in 2006, IG Metall negotiated a two-phase hike of 4.1% and 1.7%.