BERLIN, March 21 (Reuters) - Germany's Verdi union and the railway and transport union EVG are planning strikes that are expected to cause widespread disruption on railways and at airports next Monday in a rumbling dispute over wages, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Verdi and EVG declined comment ahead of a press conference on Thursday.

Verdi is negotiating on behalf of around 2.5 million employees in the public sector, including in public transport and at airports. The EVG negotiates for around 230,000 employees at Deutsche Bahn (DBN.UL) and bus companies.

It marks the latest in strikes and protests that have hit major European economies as higher food and energy prices knocked incomes and living standards following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

While Germany braces for strikes and protests next week, France, Europe's third-largest economy, is already burningas President Emmanuel Macron rammed through unpopular pension reform.