Germany’s biggest services union kicked off wage negotiations with Deutsche Post AG on Friday pushing for 15% higher pay for about 160,000 postal workers, a demand the company has turned down as “unrealistic.”
(Bloomberg) — Germany’s biggest services union kicked off wage negotiations with Deutsche Post AG on Friday pushing for 15% higher pay for about 160,000 postal workers, a demand the company has turned down as “unrealistic.”
The Verdi union reiterated the stipulations first put forward in November before the collective bargaining talks got under way, including a €200 a month bump-up for trainees. The wage demand is more than the 10.5% increase Verdi sought for 5 million public-sector workers in October.
“The employees are in urgent need of inflation compensation, and on top of that they expect to participate in the success of the company,” chief negotiator Andrea Kocsis said in a Jan. 5 statement. She referred to Deutsche Post’s guidance for operating profit of about €8.4 billion for 2022, which would be the highest on record.
Labor unions are managing to secure stronger wage deals for workers in Germany to partly make up for the fastest inflation in decades.
Carmaker Volkswagen AG and the IG Metall union reached an agreement in November to increase pay in two stages — 5.2% from June 2023 and 3.3% from May 2024. Energy provider RWE AG agreed to raise the base salary of its 18,000 employees by a minimum 6% as well as granting two one-off payments of €1,500 each the same month.
“Unlike other companies, we cannot simply pass on cost increases to our customers because letter prices are regulated,” Deutsche Post said by email. “It’s important that we find a balance between wage increases for our employees and economic viability.”
The company’s shares fell as much as 2.9%, trading down 1.7% at €36.33 as of 11:37 a.m. in Frankfurt.
Read More: German Union Demands 10.5% Pay Rise for Public-Sector Staff
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