A Frankfurt court has issued an injunction blocking Germany's air traffic controllers from holding a six-hour strike on Thursday.

The labor court handed down its decision Wednesday, but the air traffic controllers' union can appeal the ruling to a higher court.

The strike, which was announced Tuesday, was scheduled to take place Thursday between 6 a.m. and noon local time . The union said its members saw no alternative and had voted overwhelmingly in favor of the walkout.

The union requested a one-year deal that would give its members a 6.5-percent pay increase. It rejected the latest offer from Germany's air traffic control authority, which called for a smaller raise over two years.

A strike would be expected to disrupt air traffic throughout Germany in the middle of the summer vacation season.