Deutsche Post seal union deal
Deutsche Post DHL sealed a wage deal with the Verdi union on 30 October; heading off strikes during the important Christmas holiday season, reports Reuters.
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Job cuts may be deal breaker in German bank merger
Three of Germany’s biggest lenders are mulling a merger that would create a new national banking champion but opposition to losing tens of thousands of jobs as a result could quickly render the plan unfeasible.
Commerzbank and Allianz are making a joint approach to buy the country’s biggest retail lender, Deutsche Postbank, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
A three-way tie-up involving Allianz’s Dresdner Bank unit would be big part of a broad shakeout of the German banking system triggered by a global credit crisis that has prompted massive writedowns and created deep uncertainty about future revenues among the country’s lenders.
Berlin would like to see a second big financial player that could hold its own on the international stage next to top lender Deutsche Bank, government sources have said.
With its nearly 15 million customers, Postbank is seen as a major prize in a fragmented banking market that is two-thirds dominated by public-sector and cooperative lenders.
But combining Commerzbank, Dresdner and Postbank could put 20,000 jobs at risk, services trade union Verdi has estimated.
A top Verdi official and Postbank supervisory board member threatened stiff resistance should Postbank parent Deutsche Post sell its 50 percent stake in the lender.
Financial sources said the German government was pushing to get the sales process moving to get a deal done while it still held a veto right over possible partners, a power it can exercise only until the end of the year.
Germany faces a general election next year, which may add pressure to get controversial bank mergers done quickly.
More than a third of Postbank’s 21,000 staff members are civil servants, a holdover from its history as a state enterprise, in effect guaranteeing they cannot be sacked.
Read MoreDeutsche Post members vote in favour of negotiated settlement (GER)
82.7 pct of ver.di members at Deutsche Post voted in favour of accepting the settlement negotiated on 30 April. As a result, the contractually agreed provisions can come into effect. “We have achieved a very good agreement which shows the exceptional cohesion of our members. That is precisely what makes us so strong”, says Andrea Kocsis, deputy ver.di President. The union had balloted its members on the negotiated settlement on 13 – 15 May, after more than 93 pct had voted in favour of unlimited strike action during the first ballot.
After a 4 week warning strike, ver.di succeeded in obtaining the permanent maintenance of the 38.5 hour week for all employees, a non-dismissal clause that will remain valid until 30 June 2011, and a 4 pct pay increase as of 1 November 2008 with a further 3 pct increase as of 1 December 2009. Furthermore, short-time working has been taken off the agenda completely. Immediately after the ballot results were in, the collective bargaining committee accepted the offer, thus putting a formal end to industrial action at Deutsche Post AG.
Read MoreDeutsche Post and the services trade union reach agreement
Deutsche Post and the services trade union Ver.di reached an agreement today in their collective-bargaining negotiations for about 130,000 company employees. Both parties agreed on an extended job security pact, a pay increase for workers covered by the collective-bargaining agreement and additional weekly working time.
The Group’s employees covered by the agreement will receive a one-time payment of 200 euros as well as a 4 percent raise that takes effect on Nov. 1, 2008. Ver.di had originally demanded 7 percent. In addition, the workers will receive a 3 percent raise in December 2009. This ensures planning security for more than two years. The working week for workers covered by the agreement will remain at 38.5 hours.
In return, Deutsche Post won an agreement to reduce paid breaks, i.e., employees will work about 50 minutes more each week for the wages set by the bargaining agreement. Ver.di’s original demand for 10 additional days to shorten the total working time – or vacation days – has been dropped.
The working week of Deutsche Post’s civil servants will remain at 38.5 hours – as opposed to rules applying to other federal civil servants. This agreement is still subject to approval by the German finance minister. Paid breaks for this employee group will be reduced as well, meaning that the previously mentioned additional work on top of the 38.5 workweek will take effect.
The agreement, which is still subject to approval by Ver.di’s collective-bargaining commission, will run through June 30, 2010.
Read MoreDeutsche Post faces Germany-wide strikes starting next month
Deutsche Post AG may face strikes across Germany next month after the company failed to reach agreement on pay and working hours with the Ver.di labor union.
Ver.di plans to vote on open-ended strikes from April 25 to April 29, which would allow them to start on May 2, Guenter Isemeyer, a spokesman for the union said today by telephone.
Deutsche Post offered a 5.5 percent pay raise over two years and extended job security to workers until June 30, 2011, in return for increasing the workweek by 30 minutes, the Bonn- based company said April 19. Deutsche Post also wants to reduce workers’ break-time, adding an extra 2 1/2 hours work a week, Isemeyer said. The union has demanded a 7 percent wage increase.
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