Trade union ver.di increases pressure on Deutsche Post AG with strikes

Record profits for Deutsche Post AG met with strikes and wage demands

(IN BRIEF) Deutsche Post AG, a German postal service company, is facing strikes from around 30,000 employees this week as a result of a collective bargaining dispute. The strikes, organized by the German trade union ver.di, began on Thursday evening and continued through Saturday, with workers participating in all-day strikes at letter and parcel centers as well as in parcel, letter and group delivery. ver.di, which aims to secure good work, fair wages, work-life balance, equal rights, and more for its members, is demanding a 15% wage increase for employees at Deutsche Post AG for a 12-month term, as well as an increase of 200 euros per month for each year of training for training allowances. The collective bargaining will continue on February 8 and 9, 2023.

(PRESS RELEASE) BERLIN, 21-Jan-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — ver.di, a German trade union working towards good work, fair wages, work-life balance, equal rights and more, has announced that in the collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Post AG, the United Services Union (ver.di) has increased the pressure on employers this week with its strikes that have been going on since Thursday evening (19.01.23). From Thursday to Saturday (January 21, 2023), around 30,000 employees took part in the all-day strikes in the letter and parcel centers as well as in parcel, letter and group delivery.

“The strikes this week are a very clear signal to the employers, with which our members are giving their demands clear emphasis,” said Andrea Kocsis, deputy ver.di chairwoman and negotiator in the wage conflict with DP AG. In this week’s second round of collective bargaining, employers made it clear that they were neither willing nor able to compensate for employees’ real wage losses. “This is a provocation to which the employees are now giving a clear answer.” The group expects record profits of around 8.4 billion euros for 2022. The company owes this success to the work of its employees. “Against this background, our collective bargaining demands are necessary, fair and feasible.”

ver.di is demanding a wage increase of 15 percent for the employees at Deutsche Post AG with a term of the collective agreement of twelve months. The training allowances are to be increased by 200 euros per month for each year of training.

At DP AG, almost 90 percent of the pay scale employees are in pay groups 1 to 3. The basic monthly salary in these salary groups is between EUR 2,108 and EUR 3,090 gross. These employees are particularly affected by high inflation because they have to spend a large proportion of their net income on food and energy. The last tariff increase in January 2022 was two percent at DP AG.

The collective bargaining will continue on 8./9. February 2023.

Media contacts:

Richard Rother
ver.di-Bundesvorstand
Paula-Thiede-Ufer 10
10179 Berlin
Tel.: 030/6956-1011 bzw. -1012
E-Mail: pressestelle@verdi.de

SOURCE: ver.di-Bundesvorstand