Deutsche Post DHL can integrate 13,000 lower-paid delivery workers into its main delivery operation in Germany after agreeing a new deal with services union Verdi.
The two parties have agreed to amend their existing collective agreement so that it “will enable the company to continue moving towards competitive wages for all new employees while allowing regional differences to be taken into account”.
The new arrangements also allow the 13,000 DHL Delivery GmbH employees covered by the regional collective agreements for freight forwarding and logistics to be transferred to Deutsche Post AG's collective company agreement on July 1, 2019.
At present, the German market leader has a split operation, with mail and parcel deliveries through its core organization and 46 low-cost regional DHL Delivery-branded subsidiaries created in 2015.
The parent company Deutsche Post AG has some 108,000 delivery workers in Germany, who earn up to €20/hour under a national collective agreement. About 88,000 of them are employed for so-called ‘combined deliveries’ of mail and parcels, often in rural areas, while about 20,000 are dedicated to parcel deliveries.
The separate regional DHL Delivery subsidiaries have some 13,000 parcel delivery workers, who mostly earn significantly less under local agreements based on lower logistics industry pay rates. They deliver about one million parcels a day.
Verdi’s deputy chairperson Andrea Kocsis welcomed the agreement, saying: “There will now be one single Deutsche Post AG workforce again. The mistaken path of two companies will be ended. We are very happy about this. In future, there will be one collective agreement for one company.”
"Against the background of the ongoing restructuring of the German mail and parcel business, we have reached an important milestone which means security for employees and offers long-term opportunities for the company. This agreement is a further step towards competitive wage structures in the mail and parcel market, building a foundation for sustainable business success. We are also consciously distancing ourselves from low-wage competition in the sector," explained Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group.
"As we restructure our mail and parcel business in Germany, planning certainty is important not just for us as a company, but also for our employees – who are, after all, our most important asset. The agreement provides this certainty. Taken as a whole, the agreements reached enable us to boost our attractiveness as an employer while achieving a financially sustainable solution for the company," said Thomas Ogilvie, Board Member for HR and Labor Director, about the agreement.
In addition, both sides agreed to extend the company's outsourcing moratorium on mail and combined mail and parcel delivery services, which was due to expire on March 31, 2019, to December 31, 2020. Redundancy protection, which was due to expire at the end of 2019 under the old arrangements, was also extended to 31 December 2022.
