Thousands of workers at Deutsche Post staged another strike on Saturday over the company's plans to expand its parcel delivery service using staff on lower pay, labour union Verdi said. Deutsche Post said the strike, the third this month, meant that about 2 million letters and 40,000 parcels would not be delivered on Saturday, only a tiny fraction of the usual daily volume.
Like other former postal service monopolies in Europe, such as Britain's Royal Mail, Deutsche Post's traditional letter business is shrinking while deliveries of parcels are rising due to online retailing. The company announced plans in January to create 10,000 jobs in its parcel business by 2020, but said new workers would have to accept lower wages than other group employees as it tries to compete in a rapidly growing industry.
Verdi has said such a move would breach an agreement limiting how much business Deutsche Post can outsource to third parties and said it would only accept it if the company shortened its workers' hours to 36 per week from 38.5. Deutsche Post workers have already staged two two-day strikes this month and Verdi called for 10,000 to join the strike on Saturday. Further talks are scheduled for May 8 and 9 in Berlin. If Deutsche Post does not offer concessions, the union said it would escalate its industrial action.
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