(new: further strike announcement)

BONN (dpa-AFX) - Anyone waiting for a letter or a DHL parcel on Saturday may have to be patient for longer. Warning strikes in the letter and parcel centers already ensured on Friday that millions of shipments will be processed with delays. For Saturday, the Verdi union has called on delivery staff across Germany to stage all-day work stoppages. In the wage dispute with Deutsche Post, Verdi wants to increase the pressure on the employer with the warning strikes.

Already during the walkout on Friday, Deutsche Post announced that letters and parcels might not be delivered until the first half of next week. About 2.3 million parcel shipments nationwide were affected by Friday's warning strikes, according to the Post. This represents about one-third of the average daily volume. Also affected were about 13 million letters, which is about a quarter of the average daily volume.

According to the Post, around 16,700 employees responded to the strike call, representing about one-third of the Friday team. Verdi put the number of participants at 15,000 since Thursday evening. 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 had already been isolated warning strikes in letter and parcel delivery.

Verdi called its members to the work stoppages, after there was 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. Negotiations will continue on February 8 and 9. The Post has announced it will present an offer then.

"The strikes are a clear signal from our members to the employers," said Verdi deputy chairwoman and negotiator Andrea Kocsis, according to a statement Friday. She said employers had made it clear in the second round of negotiations that they were not prepared to compensate for real wage losses. This was a provocation to which the employees gave a clear answer, she said.

Swiss Post criticized the warning strikes, saying, "Since we have already announced that we will present an offer in the third round, we believe that warning strikes are unnecessary, as they will ultimately only be to the detriment of our customers."/tob/DP/nas