BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Verdi boss Frank Werneke has defended his union's demand for 15 percent more pay for Deutsche Post employees, citing inflation. "Anyone who thinks that the demand of 15 percent is too high simply cannot do the math," Werneke shouted to strikers from Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia at a rally in Berlin on Monday. He said inflation of nearly eight percent last year and six to seven percent this year meant big real wage losses. "We want to stop the inflation monster, we want to secure real wages - because we have earned that," the unionist said.

All people have a right to a full refrigerator and a heated apartment, he said. "The alternative, starve or freeze, we do not accept that alternative."

The rally, not far from Berlin's Ostbahnhof station, was attended by hundreds of strikers, who set the mood with whistles, Verdi flags and black and yellow smoke. From Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, 15 full buses with strikers had arrived, said a trade unionist on stage.

Verdi negotiator Andrea Kocsis took particular aim at Deutsche Post's economic situation. "The Group intends to generate the highest profit ever for the past year. 8.4 billion euros in earnings - we are now taking your share of that," she called out to the strikers. "Now it's your turn before we talk about dividends." The demand for a 15 percent increase was not just a pipe dream - "this demand is necessary, it is fair and it is feasible," said Kocsis./nif/DP/stw