In the collective bargaining dispute at Deutsche Post, the trade union DPVKOM called for warning strikes from Thursday to Saturday. In the Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Ravensburg branches, workers should step down again, said the union, which represents postal workers but has fewer members than Verdi. Swiss Post is therefore negotiating with Verdi.
The tariffs offered by the Bonn-based group Post do meet some of DPVKOM’s demands, such as the granting of an inflation compensation premium of EUR 3,000. But that’s not nearly enough. DPVKOM had demanded a 12 percent increase in fees. Federal Chairwoman Christina Dahlhaus also emphasized: “We now belong at the negotiating table.”
The warning strikes were said to start early in the morning on March 2nd and end on March 4th in the evening. Delivery bases would be on strike, many letters and parcels in south-west Germany could not be delivered in the coming days.
In the conflict, the fronts have hardened. The Verdi union had started a ballot that ran until March 8 to decide on an indefinite strike. For the 160,000 postmen, parcel deliverers and other employees in Germany, the collective agreement expired at the turn of the year. In the past few weeks, Verdi had increased the pressure with warning strikes, millions of shipments had been delivered late.
The Verdi demand is a 15 percent increase within one year, the post office has so far offered a tariff increase in two stages from 2024 for a 24-month period, which, according to the company, would improve pay by an average of 11.5 percent.
