By Neetha Mahadevan
FRANKFURT--German labor union Verdi called for fresh strikes
next week at Deutsche Post AG after talks with the postal services
company over a collective wage agreement fell through on
Saturday.
Deutsche Post said the union made a further demand for a 5.5%
increase in salaries for the company's about 130,000 pay-scale
employees in addition to its previous proposal to reduce work hours
to 36 per week from 38.5 per week.
"Verdi's demands for a reduction in weekly working hours with
full wage adjustment, whilst further calling for an increase in
collectively agreed salaries, are divorced from reality," Deutsche
Post board member Melanie Kreis said, adding that if agreed to the
demands of the union, the company's labor costs would increase by
an additional EUR600 million.
The union said it will announce the timing of the strike soon
after the two-day negotiations with Deutsche Post--its fourth round
in recent months--ended inconclusive.
The labor union and Deutsche Post have been locked in a dispute
over wages after the company announced plans to create 10,000 new
jobs at its parcel business by 2020, but said the wages of the new
workers would be lower than that of other group employees.
Write to Neetha Mahadevan at neetha.mahadevan@wsj.com