Has the ver.di Union Overplayed Its Hand with Deutsche Post DHL?

At the conclusion of the third round of collective bargaining with the ver.di union, Deutsche Post presented a comprehensive offer for approximately 160,000 collective agreement employees, as well as trainees and students of Deutsche Post, with a term until December 31, 2024. All collective agreement employees and trainees are to receive the full tax-free inflation compensation bonus of 3,000 euros retroactively from January 1, 2023, over a period of two years.

(Bonn) Additionally, the offer includes an increase in all collective agreement salaries and training allowances by a total of 340 euros per month in two stages starting in early 2024. This corresponds to an income increase of a total of 4,420 euros per year and represents a significant income boost for all employees, particularly those in the lower wage groups. The starting salary for a package sorter would increase by 20.3 percent. A newly hired delivery person would receive about 18 percent more per month. Civil servants would benefit from an extension of the postal allowance that expired on December 31, 2022, until December 31, 2024.

Despite the declining profit development in the German letter and parcel business and the difficult regulatory framework, the company is thus prepared to provide significant salary increases and an additional inflation compensation for employees in the coming years. This offer represents an unprecedented level of increase in the history of Deutsche Post AG. Nevertheless, it was rejected by the ver.di union.

Has the union overplayed its hand?

“Ver.di has squandered a historic opportunity to secure the future of Deutsche Post in Germany. We have gone to the limit of what is financially feasible with this offer to particularly support those employees who have felt the challenges of the past months the most. After intense and so far constructive negotiations, it is incomprehensible that the union is jeopardizing the future of the letter and parcel business and thus many jobs. Now it is up to ver.di to stop this development,” said Thomas Ogilvie, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labor Director of Deutsche Post AG.

Foto: © Deutsche Post DHL