Deliveries of Amazon and Tchibo parcels to German households were hit yesterday by warning strikesat a DHL subsidiary.
The main German services union, Verdi, called out members working at DHL Home Delivery GmbHlocations in the states of Hessen, Bremen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia on temporarystoppages. The union is demanding a 6% pay increase and a higher pay rise for lower rankingworkers.
Verdi said the warning strikes were designed to increase pressure in the ongoing paynegotiations for the 1,400 employees of the two Deutsche Post subsidiaries DHL Home Delivery GmbHand Fulfilment Plus GmbH. The two companies, which have 10 locations, handle home deliveries ofparcels from Tchibo and Amazon as well as other mail-order companies.
“The purchasing power of the employees must be strengthened. We expect a sensible offer fromthe employers,” stated deputy Verdi chairperson Andrea Kocsis. Deutsche Post DHL has not yet made apay offer in two rounds of negotiations, according to the union. Verdi did not exclude otherprotests before the next talks on May 27/28.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Post is considering outsourcing parts of the mail delivery operations tocheaper third parties in order to reduce operating costs. Jurgen Gerdes, head of the Mail division,told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: “We want to avoid this if possible, but thenegotiations will show if we are forced into it.” The company will shortly hold talks with Verdiover pay levels and working practices in order to seek cost savings.
