Wage negotiations 2008: ver.di strike threats unfounded

Deutsche Post wishes to extend existing employment agreements until June 30. This constructive offer gives all parties more time for these complex and difficult negotiations.

At the same time, all reasons ver.di has given for the strikes threatened to begin April 1, have thus been made invalid. In concrete terms, Deutsche Post wishes in particular to abstain from issuing final redundancy notices.

Furthermore, Deutsche Post is prepared for the time being to not require that civil servants work longer working hours, which will be increased to 41 hours beginning April 1. This however, will only apply if ver.di continues to conduct itself in a constructive manner.

The wage negotiations are taking place in a difficult environment. The German postal market is shrinking, competition is increasing and the minimum wage has been legally challenged. Against this background, the offer of Deutsche Post underlines the company's constructive approach.

The clear concessions by Deutsche Post send a positive signal

After around 12 hours of intensive negotiations, these clear concessions by Deutsche Post send a positive signal that aims to help reach a solution at the negotiation table. Both parties have agreed to a further round of negotiations on April 9.

The chief negotiator of Deutsche Post, Ralf Stemmer, department manager of wage policy, explained: "Deutsche Post is completely open for discussions and is doing everything it can to find a peaceful solution to the wage conflict. Our customers would not show any understanding if ver.di were to implement utterly baseless strike measures in spite of the concessions made by Deutsche Post."