Deutsche Post in the permanent crisis: Warnstreks bring NRW to a standstill!

Deutsche Post in the permanent crisis: Warnstreks bring NRW to a standstill!

In the tariff conflict with Deutsche Post AG, the United Service Union (ver.di) continues its warning strikes in North Rhine-Westphalia. On February 4, 2025, the employees of the letter centers in several cities are called to all -day warning strikes. The affected cities are Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach, Essen, Hagen, Herford, Münster, Dortmund, Siegen and Duisburg. The measures organized by ver.di aim to cause extensive delays in the delivery and to draw attention to the pressing claims of the employees. nrw.verdi.de reports that no further actions are planned on site.

The claims of ver.di include a linear increase in tariffs of 7 % and a term of the new collective agreement of 12 months. In addition, three days more vacation are required for tariff employees and trainees, as well as an additional vacation day for ver.di members. Thomas Großstück, the state department head postal services at ver.di, commented on the situation and the motives of the strikes. Another meeting for the third round of negotiations is already scheduled for February 12 and 13, 2025.

background of the collective bargaining conflict

The underlying collective bargaining conflict began on January 28, 2025 with full -layer warning strikes in the delivery units of large cities across Germany. In the first and second round of negotiations, there were hardly any progress between employers and the union. The latter criticizes that in view of the increasing living costs, the demands are not only realistic, but also necessary. Employers, on the other hand, consider the required wage increases to be affected. Verdi.de explains that a signal for the urgently needed financial support of the employees is to be set.

viewed in a larger context, the situation shows that the collective bargaining in Germany has decreased as a whole. Michael Klein, an independent economic expert, mentions that the collective bargaining in West Germany fell from 70 % in 2000 to 56 % in 2018. This development is relatively striking in a European comparison, since countries such as France or Belgium have significantly higher levels of tariff binding. bpb.de explains that Germany has one of the lowest strike frequencies in Europe, which underlines the negotiations and industrial strects.

The effects and the progress of the warning strikes are observed closely, especially against the background of the upcoming third round of negotiations and the intensifying situation within Deutsche Post AG. In the coming days it will be shown whether the employer side can respond to the union's demands in order to avoid a longer work conflict.