Germany: Ver.di signs a learning agreement with First Mail, low-cost mail delivery subsidiary of Deutsche Post

From 15 to 1,000 apprentices in three years. “First Mail announcing that it wants to bring the number of apprentices from 15 to 1,000 in a year concerns us” explained Maik Brandenburger, spokesman for the DPVKom union, Verdi’s junior partner at the Deutsche Post. “When bargaining for previous collective agreements at Deutsche Post, the management already threatened to transfer most mail delivery activities towards First Mail. We managed to block this with a clause valid until the end of 2011. However, we’re afraid that, with First Mail’s fast development, Deutsche Post is preparing the same threat for when we renegotiate the clause.” First Mail promised to hire 300 apprentices in 2010 an 690 in 2011 with a monthly starting salary of €590 for the first year. 1,000 more people at First Mail isn’t only five times the current workforce, it is also nearly half the current apprenticeship offer at the Deutsche Post. These apprentices will be trained both at Deutsche Post and First Mail but they will be employed by First Mail. “We wanted to sign this agreement because we want this sector to remain subject to training obligations” explained Cornelia Has, Ver.di spokesman. For the moment, Ver.di says that this subsidiary, which employs 180 people, mostly paid €9.8 an hour (as opposed to €11-16 for their DP colleagues), who work 38.5 hours a week, will remain in North Rhine-Westphalia. However, a DP spokesman explained that the “prices proposed by First Mail allow us to get contracts which we would otherwise not get.”