Status: 01/20/2023 17:03
Thousands of workers at mail and parcel centers across Germany have been on strike since Thursday night. The ver.di union is now asking people to stop working on Saturdays – and this time they are appealing to couriers.
Warning strikes at the Deutsche Post are expected to continue on Saturday. Across the country, the ver.di union is calling on parcel and letter delivery workers to strike all day.
Ver.di had already called on all mail and parcel center employees across the country to go on a two-day strike following the failure of collective bargaining. According to the union, around 15,000 workers took part in the strike on Thursday and Friday. A Post spokesperson spoke of some 16,700 strikers. For this reason, according to the Post Office, there may be days of delay in delivery.
“The strikes are a clear signal from our members to employers,” ver.di vice president and chief negotiator Andrea Kocsis was quoted as saying in a statement. In the second round of negotiations, employers made it clear that they were not prepared to compensate for real wage losses. This is a provocation to which officials give a clear response.
From Mannheim to Berlin
By early morning, there were around 2,000 strikers in southwest Germany alone, according to a ver.di spokeswoman for the dpa news agency. In announced locations, including Freiburg, Lahr, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Heilbronn, employees took to the streets. Some demonstrated in freezing temperatures overnight.
“The turnout was already very good overnight,” reported Thomas Großstück, ver.di spokesman for North Rhine-Westphalia. “Many colleagues are participating.” In Berlin and Brandenburg, the union had around 300 participants overnight.
packages are late
Deutsche Post operates 82 mail centers, 38 parcel centers and two international mail centers in Germany. All parcel centers and nearly all mail centers would be hit, a spokesperson for ver.di said. In some cases, letter and package couriers also took part in the strike.
“Of course, there will be delays due to the sheer volume of packages involved,” a Post spokesman said. Depending on the end of strike activities at the site, it is possible that letters and parcels may only be delivered in the first half of next week, Deutsche Post said.
Union demands 15% wage increase
There was no progress in the second round of negotiations for the approximately 160,000 employees. The union demands 15% more money for a contract period of one year. The Post’s board rejected the demand as unrealistic. Collective bargaining continues on the 8th and 9th of February. The Swiss Post has announced that it will submit an offer.