Tag: Ver.di

Deutsche Post: ver.di rejects very good offer

Posted by | Apr 19, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post made ver.di a very attractive offer, according to which dismissals protection would be extended to June 30, 2011 and contractual employees’ wages would be increased by around 5.5 percent over the next two years.

In return, employees’ working hours would be moderately increased. That means that employees would work an extra half hour each week, or six minutes more each day. Civil servants will work 40 hours a week instead of 41 in the future, that’s one hour less than is usual for German federal civil servants and has been in force at Deutsche Post since April 1st ver.di rejected this offer.

Walter Scheurle, Board Member, Personnel, commented: “Whoever rejects 39 months of dismissals protection and a reasonable salary increase in exchange for a working-hours increase of six minutes per day, definitely does not represent the interest of our employees.”

Deutsche Post emphasized its readiness to continue with the employment pact and thus its commitment to job security as well as to a salary increase that is attractive to employees, but at the same time economically viable. This precludes that the social partner is prepared to discuss an increase in working hours.

According to the assessment of Deutsche Post, job security assurance and the proposed salary increase correspond to the paramount interests of employees. The stubborn attitude of ver.di in regard to the working hours issue is obviously based more on dogmatism and in strategic and image goals than anything else.

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Deutsche Post workers stage warning strikes to support union's wage demands

Posted by | Apr 1, 2008 | |

Some 5,000 employees at Deutsche Post World Net AG are temporarily halting work this morning to back demands by services union ver.di during wage negotiations with the German mail services company, a union said.

Some 6 million letters and 150,000 parcels will not be delivered today due to the warning strikes, Sigrun Schmid, ver.di’s industrial action leader said.

She said mail delivery in 14 German cities is affected, including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt.

Wage agreements that banned compulsory redundancies of Deutsche Post’s 130,000 employees and limits weekly working hours of some 55,000 civil servants to 38.5 hours per week expired Monday.

Deutsche Post extended the agreements until end of June to allow more time for negotiations.

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Unions meet with TNT and seek dialogue to secure rights for workers globally

Posted by | Mar 26, 2008 | |

UNI along with the ITF, Verdi and the Dutch unions FNV Bondgenoten and Abvakabo, met with TNT management to discuss the unions’ concerns about TNT not adhering to minimum social and labour standards throughout the world. UNI has been running a campaign to support Ver.di in Germany where they are demanding that TNT pay the legal minimum wage that was set for postal workers by the German parliament.

The union delegation also expressed its concern at the apparent support for a “ghost” or “bogus” union that has been set up in the postal sector and which has clearly been funded by at least one of the post companies opposing the minimum wage.

The delegation asked that TNT respect the German minimum wage and that it would agree not to carry out social dumping and to pay decent wages wherever it set up its letter business. TNT said if the German court told it that they must pay the minimum wage they would abide by that decision, however there is now expected to be a considerable number of court actions over some lengthy period as the Ministry of Labour in German appeals the latest decision by a Berlin court.

The Union delegation also insisted that TNT not support any “bogus” unions and deal with real independent unions and to have further discussions with UNI and the ITF on developing a proper global social dialogue and meeting basic labour standards and workers rights while paying socially acceptable wages. TNT agreed to consider this request.

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German postal co PIN probed over alleged illegal trade union financing

Posted by | Mar 25, 2008 | |

German prosecutors are investigating allegations that PIN, a private postal company, last year illegally financed the creation of a trade union as part of its failed bid to block minimum wage regulations in the postal sector.

PIN, which is currently in insolvency proceedings, allegedly made undisclosed payments worth about 133,000 eur to the GNBZ postal workers union, which was set up to rival Germany’s largest services union, Verdi.

The GNBZ denied it had been ‘bribed’ by PIN, the Financial Times reported. PIN’s former chief executive Guenter Thiel also denied the allegations.

PIN, which is majority owned by Axel Springer AG, complained last year that a new hourly minimum wage of between 8-9 eur for German postal workers was part of a strategy by incumbent Deutsche Post to squeeze out competition.

A wage agreement between PIN and GNBZ paying staff only 6.50-7.50 eur an hour was invalidated by authorities.

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Deutsche Post plans to raise civil servants' working hours

Posted by | Mar 12, 2008 | |

Deutsche Post World Net AG plans to raise the weekly working hours for its some 55,000 civil servants to 41 from 38.5 as soon as a labour agreement expires March 31, Die Welt reported, not citing its sources.

The former state-owned monopoly company still employs a large number of former state civil servants. Civil servants employed in the government administration work 41 hours a week.

Chief executive Frank Appel at Deutsche Post’s annual press conference last week did not say the German mail services company plans to extend working hours, but said the 41 hours are an issue.

A labour agreement that rules out compulsory redundancies for Deutsche Post’s 130,000 German employees also expires at the end of March.

ver.di has as a measure of precaution cancelled all wage agreements effective March 31 in order to be able to launch strikes April 1, as it fears Deutsche Post plans to lay off several thousands employees.

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