The indefinite postal strike in Germany today started to impact on Deutsche Post DHL parcel deliveries as thousands of delivery workers joined the industrial action, although delays remained relatively limited.
Services union Verdi said that 6,500 delivery workers stopped work today, affecting mostly parcel deliveries and so-called ‘combined deliveries’ of letters and parcels in rural areas.
Together with the 8,000 staff in Deutsche Post’s 83 mail sorting centres and Berlin delivery staff who were already on strike, a total of 14,500 Verdi members are now participating in the industrial action, according to the union. Other operating units are expected to follow in the coming days.
Verdi’s deputy chairwoman Andrea Kocsis said: “The workers are heeding the strike call of their union. They expect the management board to be willing and able to resolve the conflict.”
Deutsche Post disputed the union’s figures, claiming that 11,000 staff were on strike today, and pointed out that parcel sorting centres were not affected at present. The company is using administrative and sales staff as well as workers from external suppliers alongside civil servants and non-striking employees to sort and deliver mail and parcels.
A spokeswoman told CEP-Research: “At present we can still keep the consequences for our customers limited.” About 88% of the 65 million daily letters and 93% of today’s 4.1 million parcel volume would reach recipients on time, she said.
Verdi aims to block Deutsche Post’s transfer of parcel delivery operations to 49 newly-created regional subsidiaries in order to reduce operating costs. Workers at these firms, which are all now in operation, are not covered by the group’s main collective agreement in Germany but are paid at the lower level of local collective agreements in the freight forwarding and logistics sector – but still earn more than at competitors.
There are now about 6,000 full-time workers at these DHL Delivery firms compared to 11,000 parcel delivery staff and some 86,000 mail and combined delivery workers employed at parent firm Deutsche Post. The DHL Delivery workforce is due to be increased to 10,000 staff by 2020.
The dispute over these lower-paid jobs has overshadowed the broader issue of a new collective pay and working conditions agreement for some 130,000 – 140,000 Deutsche Post staff. Verdi called a strike after negotiations broke down last week following six rounds of talks without a deal.
