Deutsche Post to push for new wage floor
Deutsche Post has said it will seek an introduction to a new minimum wage in the industry, according to a report in the Financial Times (FT). The company is making the move only days after a federal court rejected a wage floor set by the previous government.
The newspaper quote Frank Appel, chief executive of Deutsche Post, as saying: “Is it right, in a declining market, just to compete on salary costs?”
The FT reported that “Appel’s thinking puts more pressure on Berlin, which already faces calls from unions to push again for a minimum wage after a court criticised the way Berlin had set the first rate in 2007.
“His remarks will anger rivals including Dutch group TNT and smaller German companies, who complain that the last hourly floor of €8 was agreed by Deutsche Post and the union Verdi, and was extended by Berlin to rivals without consultation.”
Appel said Deutsche Post would now consult its union, according to the FT, noting that the current minimum wage structure expires in April, with the Post’s wage deal expiring in 2011. “We have to sit together and think what we should do,” Appel told the newspaper.
