The German postal and transport union, Verdi, is threatening strike action with an upcomingstrike vote next week after labour negotiations for around 1,600 employees of Deutsche Post’s
subsidiary DHL Home Delivery failed.DHL offered the Home Delivery staff a one-off payment of €100 in a third round of negotiationson 5-6th September. The union is seeking a 6.5% wage increase for a one-year labour contract.
Andrea Kocsis, Verdi deputy chairwoman and head of its postal and logistics section, said: “Theemployer’s single payment offer worth €100 is a provocation. The tariff commission has declaredthat the negotiations have failed.” Even before the third round of the labour negotiations, Verdiwarned its members of the need for possible strike action.
Deutsche Post DHL spokeswoman Dunja Kuhlmann told CEP-Research: “In a first step, we haveoffered a single payment of €100 for this year. At the same time, we suggested to resume the tariffnegotiations in April 2014. The background for this offer is the following: DHL Home Delivery iscurrently in a difficult period of transition due to the impact of the Neckermann insolvency.Therefore, it needs to exclude any additional personnel costs through wage increases in 2013 toensure jobs in the long term.”
Asked about the impact of any possible strike action, Kuhlmann said this could lead to delays inwarehouses and logistics centres with regard to dispatch handling as well as delivery delays ofheavy goods. “In terms of parcel delivery, just a few individual districts might possibly beaffected at a regional level. From experience of the last tariff negotiations in April this year,we are very well positioned to minimise delays.”
DHL Home Delivery services include fulfilment (packing, controlling, dispatch etc.) inwarehouses for online shippers, ‘two-man’ delivery of heavier goods (e.g. furniture and washingmachines) as well as parcel delivery in a limited number of districts for DHL Parcel.
