The German postal strike has entered its third week with between 26,000 and 31,000 workers taking indefinite strike action but there is still no sign of a solution to the long-running dispute.
The number of Deutsche Post DHL mail and parcel sorting and delivery employees on strike increased today to about 31,000, according to services union Verdi. This includes members of Verdi and the smaller DPVKOM union. Deutsche Post put the number of striking workers at 26,300, however.
Verdi’s deputy chairman Andrea Kocsis claimed that staff “have lost confidence in their employer” and reiterated her call for “a solution at the negotiating table that covers all aspects” of the dispute. The strike started on Monday June 8 over the company’s creation of separate regional parcel delivery companies with staff on lower-paid contracts after six fruitless rounds of negotiations over pay, working conditions and the new delivery companies.
The union also heavily criticised Deutsche Post’s use of about 11,000 volunteer staff to deliver part of the backlog of letters and parcels on Sunday (June 21), which is not a normal working day in Germany.
In addition, Verdi has claimed that Deutsche Post is using nearly 70 different temporary hire companies, with temporary staff working on service contracts for a subsidiary called DHL Sorting GmbH, to keep the backlog volume down. In addition, about 1,000 other temporary staff are working in parcel sorting centres, according to the union.
“With the company order for Sunday delivery and the comprehensive use of service contracts, the Deutsche Post board is undermining the legally guaranteed right to strike and driving a division in the workforce,” Kocsis declared.
Last Friday, about 150 DPVKOM members held a demonstration in Berlin to press that union’s demands for a 5.5% pay rise and a reduction in weekly working hours from 38.5 to 38 along with the re-integration of the DHL Delivery GmbH workers into the group’s collective pay agreement.
A Deutsche Post spokeswoman said the company is managing to deliver about 80% of daily letters and parcel volumes on time “due to comprehensive measures”, with the rest delivered “over the following days”. These figures varied regionally depending on strike participation levels.
Uwe Brinks, Deutsche Post AG production chief, said that the Sunday delivery action involving 11,000 voluntary helpers had been “a complete success”. He added: “This has given us a solid operational basis for a good start into the third week of strikes. This week we will again uphold our promise of punctually delivering 80% of the letters and parcels entrusted to us.”
Deutsche Post emphasised that it had observed all valid legal regulations as part of the Sunday delivery action.
