On February 10, 2015 the United Services Union (ver.di) denounced the current agreement on working time signed with Deutsche Post, which expires at the end of March 2015 (and the general collective agreement expires at the end of May 2015). This means that ver.di can call for a strike earlier. This agreement included employee concessions that had been given made in exchange for assurances by Deutsche Post to only sub-contract a very limited number of postal codes to private companies. This is at the heart of the current conflict. On January 22, 2015, Deutsche Post announced it would set up 49 regional distribution (for parcels) entities called DHL Delivery GmbH. These companies have started recruiting permanent staff on salaries that are 20% less than the in-house levels. Ver.di views this move as a way of side stepping the in-house collective agreement and as a form of social dumping.
Deutsch Post wants to align with agreements in the logistics sector. On January 22, 2015, Germany’s biggest postal business announced it was going to expand its parcel delivery business with the creation of 49 new regional entities called DHL Delivery GmbH. The company plans to hire up to 10,000 permanent staff by 2020, and should all go well this could rise to 20,000 by 2025.
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