Postal workers stage strikes in Spain and Germany

Postal workers in Germany staged another strike on Saturday as part of their ongoing dispute with Deutsche Post, while their Spanish counterparts held a 24-hour strike on Monday. In Germany, the labour union Verdi is objecting to Deutsche Post’s plans to expand the parcel delivery service using workers who will be on a lower pay scale than other group employees. The Germany postal workers had already staged two strike days in April. Deutsche Post management and the union representatives are scheduled to hold further talks in Berlin on 8-9 May.

In Spain, the unions CCOO, UGT, CSIF and Sindicato Libre organized Monday’s action to protest about job losses and the stalemate in their salary negotiations with Correos. According to local sources, a further five one-day strikes have been planned for May. Most “job losses” have been achieved by not replacing retiring employees, rather than by redundancies.