New warning strikes: numerous Post employees stop working

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Swiss Post employees on strike (in Krefeld): »Crystal-clear signal«

Photo:

David Young / dpa

Postal workers across Germany once again stopped work on Monday in a collective bargaining dispute with Deutsche Post.

The protests started as planned, the participation was good, said a Ver.di spokesman on Monday.

According to Deutsche Post, around 5,300 employees took part in warning strikes on Monday night and on Monday.

The union has also called on employees to go on nationwide warning strikes in selected companies in all Postal work areas for Tuesday.

In view of the high inflation, the union is demanding a wage increase of 15 percent for around 160,000 employees in the Post & Parcel Germany sector for twelve months.

The Post has repeatedly dismissed the salary claim as unrealistic.

"This is again a crystal-clear signal to the employers: the employees are ready to fight for their demands and are now expecting a round of negotiations that will end with a strong salary increase," said the deputy Ver.di chairwoman and chief negotiator, Andrea Kocsis.

»Our members take to the streets because they simply cannot afford to lose purchasing power.«

The Post reacted with incomprehension to the actions of Ver.di.

A company spokesman said the group had already announced an offer for the next round of collective bargaining on Wednesday and Thursday.

The recent warning strikes are therefore exaggerated.

The behavior of the union is at the expense of the customers of the group.

Rallies also on Tuesday

The focal points of the warning strikes on Monday included Berlin and Rostock.

Ver.di also announced protest rallies in Dortmund, Hamburg, Saarbrücken, Polch (Rhineland-Palatinate), Nuremberg, Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart for Tuesday.

There had already been warning strikes on several days in January.

Most recently, 20 percent of parcels and nine percent of letters were not delivered due to outstanding deliveries on one day.

Sol/dpa/Reuters