Services union Verdi has given Deutsche Post until tomorrow afternoon (Thursday, June 4) to accept its demands in the ongoing labour dispute or face a full-scale strike after the latest talks failed to find an agreement yesterday.
During the two days of talks on Monday and yesterday over pay, working conditions and the creation of regional parcel delivery firms, Verdi presented what it described as “a comprehensive package” and called on the company to accept it by 16.00 CET on June 4 in order to resolve the long-running dispute.
The union called for the new 49 regional parcel delivery companies to be integrated into the Deutsche Post AG collective pay agreement and for an extension to protection against redundancies and outsourcing. In exchange, it offered to forego a pay rise this year and for new employees to rise up salary levels every three years instead of every two.
Verdi deputy chairwoman Andrea Kocsis said yesterday: “We need a solution to the conflict. After Deutsche Post did not move during six rounds of talks, we have presented a comprehensive offer. This overall package is very painful for us on the question of pay. But there cannot be any peace in the business without a return of the 49 DHL Delivery GmbHs under the umbrella of Deutsche Post AG, and so we are taking this step.”
Verdi’s pay commission decided today that if Deutsche Post does not accept the union’s offer, then the negotiations will have failed. This opens the way to a full-scale strike if no agreement can be reached.
But Deutsche Post has already verbally rejected the union’s package and pointed out that its own offer was previously turned down. On May 9, the company submitted an offer that would reduce weekly working times by around one hour with no loss of pay and provide extensive protection against unfair dismissal and rationalisation until the end of 2018.
"The proposal from ver.di is spurious unfortunately and does not solve a single one of our problems," said Melanie Kreis, Board Member for Personnel and Labour Director at Deutsche Post DHL Group. "We have a structural problem because our wages are twice as high as those of our competitors. What is critical for us is that we make a noticeable contribution to securing the future of our employees and the company with any agreement we seek. An initial review of the ver.di proposal shows no evidence of that."
Deutsche Post reiterated that it needs to make substantial investments to secure its own market position in the face of the parcel market's rapid growth. At the same time, the wages currently paid by Deutsche Post to its employees are twice as high as those paid by many competitors. For that reason, competitive pay for future employees would be necessary for the company to remain viable going forward.
The labour dispute centres on pay and working conditions, as well as claims of broken agreements. The union claims that Deutsche Post’s creation of 49 regional parcel delivery companies, employing full-time workers at lower pay levels, breaches a contract that prevents the company from outsourcing delivery to internal or external companies beyond the existing 990 parcel delivery districts.
At the same time, the two sides have so far failed to reach an agreement over pay and working times for some 140,000 employees covered by the collective pay agreement. The union initially demanded a 5.5% pay rise and a reduction in weekly working hours from 38.5 to 36 hours without any equivalent reduction in payment, which it says would compensate for the ‘breach of contract’ over the regional parcel delivery companies.
But Deutsche Post claimed this would amount to an effective pay rise of 12.5% that would impact on its competitiveness. Instead, it is offering extended protection against dismissal and longer paid working breaks.
