“Perspective unacceptable”
Verdi calls for strikes at the post office
01/19/2023 5:41 p.m
According to Verdi, tens of thousands work in the low-wage sector at Swiss Post. In view of the inflation, the union is demanding 15 percent more wages for the employees, which their employer has so far rejected. Now the employees are down for several days.
In the collective bargaining dispute between Verdi and Deutsche Post, the union is calling for strikes in all letter and parcel centers nationwide. The work stoppages in the distribution centers should start in the late afternoon and last all Friday, Verdi said. The second round of collective bargaining ended “without result”, it was said as a reason.
“Further strikes will follow in the days to come,” announced Verdi. Tariff talks are set to resume on February 8th. “Employers have made it very clear that they are not prepared to compensate for the loss in real wages and inflation. This cannot be financed,” said Verdi Vice President and negotiator Andrea Kocsis. “This point of view is not acceptable to us.”
In view of the billions in profits at the post office, it was a “provocation” that the employer was not prepared to compensate for real wage losses, it said. At Swiss Post, 140,000 of the 160,000 pay scale employees are in the lower pay brackets. They are “particularly affected by the high inflation” because they have to spend a large proportion of their net income on food and energy.
Record result for Deutsche Post of 8.4 billion
Verdi is demanding 15 percent more salary and an increase in training allowances for each year of training by 200 euros per month – for a period of one year. “Our collective bargaining demands are necessary, fair and feasible,” Verdi assessed the situation.
Before the second round of negotiations, the union had already referred to Deutsche Post’s expected record result of 8.4 billion euros for 2022. The company owes this success to the work of its employees.