Referring to the high inflation, Verdi had demanded 15 percent more wages for a term of one year.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf, Bonn Deutsche Post and the Verdi union have agreed on a new collective agreement for the logistics group’s 160,000 employees. This was announced by the collective bargaining parties on Saturday. From April 1, 2024, all employees will receive 340 euros more per month. According to the Post, this means an average wage increase of 11.5 percent. In addition, there is a special payment totaling 3,000 euros over 15 months. Of this, 1020 euros are to be paid in April and 180 euros a month net from May 2023 to March 2024. The term of the new collective agreement is 24 months in total.
The agreement is expected to avert an indefinite strike that union members had already voted in favor of in a ballot. In another ballot, they will now vote on the outcome of the negotiations. The union recommended accepting the outcome of the negotiations.
The Post emphasized that the monthly starting salaries in the lower income groups, for example for parcel sorters, will increase by more than 20 percent from April 1, 2024 and by 18 percent for delivery staff. Verdi put the wage increase in the bottom three groups at 11 to 16 percent.
The deputy Verdi chairwoman and chief negotiator Andrea Kocsis expressed his satisfaction: “With this collective bargaining result, our most important goal of creating inflation compensation, especially for the lower income groups, will be achieved according to the current forecasts of the expected rate of price increases,” said Kocsis according to a statement.
Post HR Director Thomas Ogilvie said: “In the interests of our employees, but also of our customers, we have gone beyond our financial pain threshold. It is important that we were able to avoid lengthy strikes to the detriment of our customers and the company.”
Indefinite strike last in 2015
In the ballot, 85.9 percent of union members had voted in favor of an indefinite strike. Nevertheless, after the voting result was announced on Thursday, Verdi had declared its willingness to negotiate at short notice. They had started on Friday afternoon in Düsseldorf at an undisclosed location. After a nightly marathon meeting, the collective bargaining parties announced the result on Saturday afternoon.
The last time there was an indefinite strike at the logistics company was in 2015. At that time, masses of parcels and letters had been left behind. In the current wage dispute, Verdi had already called for temporary warning strikes in January and February after the previous wage agreement expired at the end of the year.
More: Verdi members vote for indefinite strike