Services union Verdi has announced an ‘indefinite’ full-scale strike that might start any time after Deutsche Post didn’t react to Verdi’s ultimatum to accept its proposal, submitted during the last negotiations round, by16.00 CET on June 4, with the postal operator now facing potential disruptions of its mail and parcel operations.
The indefinite strike could start in the beginning of next week as the strike preparations are reportedly in process. However, Verdi hasn’t given any exact date yet.
A Deutsche Post spokesman said to CEP-Research in response to the strike threat: “Carrying out further strike action to the detriment of our customers, the company and ultimately the staff is completely inappropriate. The duration and extent of the strikes announced by Verdi are beyond our control and cannot be estimated on our part. Should the strikes take place, we will take all the necessary operational measures, like we did in the past, to limit the impact on our customers as much as possible. It worked quite well during the warning strikes in the last weeks as most of our customers didn’t really notice anything.”
However, he refused to provide any details on the potential measures that Deutsche Post might implement in case of industrial action. “In the same way that Verdi doesn’t inform us about the concrete strike measures in advance, we won’t disclose our countermeasures prematurely either,” he told CEP-Research.
In its press release published yesterday afternoon, the union stated that Deutsche Post ‘let the deadline expire and set the course for a strike’. “During ten days of negotiations since mid-March, Deutsche Post AG hasn’t moved closer towards conflict resolution. Therefore, we as a union have submitted a comprehensive offer. It responds to the central argument of Deutsche Post for modified wage differentials and ensures at the same time an integrated and efficient delivery network, which is in the public interest,” Verdi deputy chairwoman Andrea Kocsis said in Berlin yesterday afternoon.
“Our offer is a viable compromise and allows peace to be established in operational terms. The fact that Deutsche Post ignored the deadline is very unusual behaviour in a labour agreement and raises the question whether the company is interested in finding a solution at the negotiating table at all,” she concluded.
The union added that it tried during the sixth round of negotiations on Tuesday to convince Deutsche Post to come to a mutual agreement and to “dissuade it from the collision course” against the 140,000 Deutsche Post mail and parcel employees.
As part of its offer, the union called for the new 49 regional parcel delivery companies to be integrated into 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.
In response to Verdi’s strike threat, Melanie Kreis, Deutsche Post’s member of the Management Board, in charge of Human Resources, told CEP-Research: “The ultimatum from Verdi shows that its proposal submitted at the end of the sixth negotiations round doesn’t mean business and is nothing but tactics. This is also reflected in Verdi’s cancellation of the next negotiation round on 16 June which had been scheduled a while ago. Issuing a one-sided ultimatum between labour agreement partners is not understandable for us and reflects a lack of willingness to come to an agreement. Without any option to negotiate along with a threat to the immediate termination of the collective bargaining in case of non-acceptance, this equals a unilateral ultimatum.”
“Verdi needed six negotiation rounds to put the first concrete proposal on the table and wanted a reply within 48 hours. We had already submitted a wide-ranging offer in the fourth negotiation round three weeks ago but it was rejected immediately without further examination. After a first glance at Verdi’s proposal, we are skeptical that it can contribute to a long-term solution for our existing competitive disadvantage. The demand designated as an "offer" falls partly behind what has already been agreed. Nevertheless, we are willing to consider this proposal seriously and we will respond to it next week, regardless of any scare tactics,” Kreis stated.
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.
