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German postal workers call off strike action after deal is reached
9 May 2008
Postal workers in Germany have reached an agreement with Deutsche Post/DHL over working hours and pay, bringing a month-long dispute to an end.
The ITF-affiliated union Ver.di and Deutsche Post reached the agreement on a new contract for the 130,000 workers during negotiations in Cologne on 30 April. The settlement will see workers’ hours remain at 38.5 hours – management had planned to increase them to 41. In return the union agreed to partially renege on previously agreed breaks for some workers.
The deal also includes a four per cent pay rise from 1 November this year with a further three per cent rise from 1 December 2009. In addition, the union succeeded in winning an extension on an agreement preventing the company from dismissing workers for operational reasons until the end of June 2011. The contract is set to run from 1 May until 30 June 2010.
In the last week of April, 93 per cent of Ver.di members voted for indefinite strike action; workers staged a series of "warning strikes" throughout April. All strikes have now been called off.
Ver.di’s lead negotiator, Andrea Kocsis, explained: “With more than 93 per cent of workers ready for strike action, we were able to get a very acceptable result. An increase in working hours and the redundancies that would have followed have been averted. Now all workers, including trainees, have a future in the postal service."
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