German services union Verdi today started a 'phased indefinite' strike at Deutsche Post after the breakdown of labour talks between the two sides last week.
The union said that its members, who make up a large proportion of the 140,000 employees covered by a collective agreement, would go on strike “step by step” from this afternoon onwards. German media reported that staff in mail sorting centres had stopped work, and that mail and parcel delivery workers would follow suit.
Verdi deputy chairwoman Andrea Kocsis said: “Deutsche Post has not moved a millimetre towards solving the conflict during the six negotiation rounds so far, but has ignored an overall offer from us to pacify the situation. Now we have to increase the pressure massively and call out Verdi members at Deutsche Post in stages from today on an indefinite strike.”
The strike came after Verdi issued an ultimatum for Deutsche Post to accept its demands concerning new regional parcel delivery subsidiaries and overall working conditions by last Thursday (June 4) or face official industrial action. The company did not respond by the deadline.
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.
The union called for these 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.
Deutsche Post said today that Verdi’s demands were “absolutely insufficient” to resolve the dispute, described the threat of indefinite strikes as “out of proportion” and “destructive”, and emphasised it would do everything possible to minimise the impact for customers.
Melanie Kreis, member of the Management Board in charge of Human Resources, said: “The proposal from Verdi does not make any contribution to securing jobs for staff and the company. The so-called offer does not solve any of our problems. With additional costs of about €300 million, it would even be a significant worsening of our existing competitive disadvantage.”
She added: “No one will lose their job because of DHL Delivery. No one needs to fear lower pay or loss of benefits. But we can only compete successfully in the market in future with a long-term competitive pay structure. We call on Verdi to return to the negotiating table and to act in the interests of employees and their future.”
