German postal workers threaten strikes if demands not met
Postal workers are ready to walk off their jobs for as long as necessary to get the 6.5 percent pay increase they are asking for, a union official said Sunday, a day ahead new wage talks.
“If there isn’t a breakthrough, Germany will have to brace for a long postal strike,” said Rolf Buettner, who represents postal workers in the ver.di service union. He called on the German postal service, Deutsche Post, work toward an agreement with its 240,000 employees.
Discussions between the union and Deutsche Post are to begin Monday, but unionists have vowed to keep up sporadic warning strikes until an agreement is reached. The post office has reportedly made an undisclosed offer.
About 4,000 postal workers are expected to walk off their jobs in several states Monday, leaving hundreds of mailboxes empty and even causing some windows in post offices to close.
Already last week mail circulation in Germany was slowed by a series of brief warning strikes staged in states across the country. On Saturday millions of letters and packages failed to reach their destinations, when mail workers struck several states in southern and central Germany.
Meanwhile, construction companies in parts of eastern Germany reportedly agreed to a minimum wage for all workers, the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel said. Unionists are to begin voting Monday over whether to call the industry’s first walkout in more than 50 years.
The IG Bau construction workers union is pushing for an average 4.5 percent annual raise and for wages in the east to be brought up to the levels paid in more affluent western Germany. The union also accuses some employers of undercutting agreed minimum wages.
Klaus Wiesehuegel, head of the IG Bau rejected the eastern employers’ offer and threatened a long, hard battle. The union is logistically and financially solid enough to handle a major strike, Wiesehuegel told the Bild am Sonntag weekly.
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE – ENGLISH 8th June 2002
13 MILLION ITEMS PILED UP DUE TO GERMAN POSTAL WORKERS’ STRIKE
BERLIN, June 8 (AFP) – Some 13 million letters and parcels remained undelivered across Germany Saturday due to a series of rolling strikes by 3,500 postal employees, union officials said.
Members of the service sector union Ver.di, working for the semi-privatised German postal authority, Deutsche Post, have staged a series of walkouts since Tuesday.
The northern cities of Bremen and Hamburg have been most affected by the industrial campaign along, with the states of Bavaria and Schelswig-Holstein.
Ver.di is calling for a wage increase of 6.5 percent for about 160,000 of Deutsche Post’s 240,000-strong workforce.
The other 80,000 employees are not included because they are classified as civil servants in the semi-privatised company’s pay structure.
Deutsche Post’s management has yet to table a specific offer, but has dismissed the the union’s demands as unrealistic.
Both parties are due to resume talks on June 10.
