After the second round of collective bargaining for the 160,000 postal workers in Germany ended without a result, the Verdi union called on employees in all letter and parcel centers to walk out.
Millions of Germans have to be prepared for the fact that letters and parcels will arrive late in the coming days. The Verdi union is calling on workers in all Deutsche Post mail and parcel centers nationwide to go on warning strikes on Thursday from 5 p.m. and all day on Friday after the second round of collective bargaining for around 160,000 postal workers ended without a result. “Further strikes will follow in the days to come,” announced Verdi.
The union is demanding 15 percent more wages and salaries. The majority of Verdi members at Swiss Post have a low income and cannot cope with real wage losses, said negotiator Andrea Kocsis. Around 140,000 of the 160,000 employees earned between 2108 and 3090 euros per month. They are hit particularly hard by high inflation, as they have to use a large part of their income for food and energy. The last tariff increase in January 2022 was only 2 percent.
Post board rejects demand as unrealistic
Verdi therefore considers the demands to be “necessary, fair and feasible”. But the company shows no understanding for the situation of the employees. “Employers have made it very clear that they are not prepared to compensate for the loss in real wages and inflation,” said Kocsis. In view of the group’s billions in profits, this is a provocation. “The workers in the companies will now give a clear answer to this and reinforce their demands with strikes.”
The Post board of directors had already rejected the demand as unrealistic before the most recent round of negotiations. A spokesman emphasized that the company had made concrete proposals to Verdi in the collective bargaining talks, which primarily concerned the building blocks and structure of the wage increases. But it was also made clear “that the trade union assumption that wage increases can be passed on through price increases will not apply in the coming years due to the comprehensive price regulation for the letter and parcel business in Germany”.
The Post spoke of constructive discussions. This lays the foundation for “submitting an offer in the already agreed third round of negotiations on February 8th and 9th that will be based on a fair balance between the justified interests of employees and the economic realities of Post & Paket Deutschland”.
Lots of complaints about delivery failures
Even without strikes, there had recently been many complaints about delivery defects. Last year, the Bundesnetzagentur’s postal complaints office registered more complaints than ever before – a total of around 43,500, almost three times as many as in 2021. The complaints are aimed at the entire German letter and parcel industry. However, most of the comments about delayed or lost shipments refer to the market leader Deutsche Post.
The company itself speaks of local problems, which it explains with a high level of sick leave and the generally difficult search for workers. A company spokesman said just a few days ago that this year “everything will be done to further improve the quality of delivery despite the continuing challenging circumstances”.
Source: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
