BERLIN/BONN (dpa-AFX) - There may also be longer delays in the delivery of letters and parcels as a result of a nationwide warning strike at Deutsche Post these days. Depending on the end of the strike activities on site, it is possible that letters and parcels can be delivered with a few days delay only in the first half of next week, Deutsche Post announced in Bonn on Friday. In the ongoing wage dispute, Verdi had called for work stoppages at all mail and parcel centers starting Thursday afternoon and all day Friday.

About 2.3 million parcel shipments nationwide were affected by the warning strikes on Friday, Deutsche Post reported. This corresponds to about one third of the average daily volume. Around 13 million letter items were also affected, corresponding to about a quarter of the average daily volume, it said.

"A total of about 16,700 employees have responded to the strike call so far, which is about one-third of the employees currently present today," a Deutsche Post spokesman said. The Verdi union put the number of participants in warning strikes since Thursday evening at 15,000. Deutsche Post operates 82 mail centers, 38 parcel centers and two international mail centers in Germany. All parcel centers and almost all mail centers have been on all-day strike since Thursday evening, a Verdi spokesman said. There were also selective warning strikes in letter and parcel delivery throughout Germany.

Verdi had called its members to the work stoppages after there had been no progress in the second round of negotiations for the approximately 160,000 collective bargaining employees from the union's point of view. The union is demanding 15 percent more pay for a contract term of one year. The Post Board rejects the demand as unrealistic. The collective bargaining negotiations will continue on February 8 and 9. Swiss Post has announced that it will present an offer then.

The majority of Verdi members at the Post have a low income and cannot cope with real wage losses, Verdi negotiator Andrea Kocsis had said on Thursday. Around 140,000 of the 160,000 pay-scale employees earn between 2108 and 3090 euros per month. They hit the high inflation particularly hard, because they have to use a large part of their income for food and energy. The last tariff increase in January 2022 was only 2 percent. Verdi therefore considers the demands "necessary, fair and feasible."

The Post expressed incomprehension for the warning strikes: "Since we have already announced that we will present an offer in the third round, warning strikes are unnecessary from our point of view, as they will ultimately only be to the detriment of our customers," said a spokesman./tob/DP/nas