BONN (dpa-AFX) - Postmen and parcel delivery staff at Deutsche Post should receive 15 percent more money, according to the Verdi trade union. This demand for 160,000 pay-scale employees in Germany will be the subject of collective bargaining negotiations that start on Friday. The company rejects the 15 percent demand as "unrealistic." "In the upcoming collective bargaining, it will be important to strike a balance between wage increases for our employees and economic viability for the company," a Post spokesman said before the negotiations began. He stressed that the company must remain financially capable of acting for investments.

Verdi negotiator Andrea Kocsis, on the other hand, considers the hefty wage increase "necessary, fair and feasible." "Employees urgently need compensation for inflation, and they also expect to share in the company's success," said the trade unionist, referring to the global group's recent stellar figures.

The employees had been working "under the heaviest of burdens" in recent years, she said, and now they expect "lasting financial recognition of their work, which is so important for all of us." At the start of negotiations, the two sides are only expected to take an initial sounding out. The next round of negotiations is expected to take place just under two weeks later./wdw/DP/mis