Germany - Deutsche Post plans to downgrade jobs and sell offices - June 13, 2010

According to business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, Deutsche Post is preparing to implement a massive savings programme, including the sale of a number of post offices, consolidation of package and letter delivery services, and downgrading jobs to reduce wages. Although redundancies have been ruled out until at least the middle of next year, the magazine reported that Deutsche Post is increasingly transferring work to its low-paying subsidiary First Mail. First Mail workers are paid Euro 9.80 an hour, compared to an average Deutsche Post wage of Euro 14.00. First Mail is said to have increased the numbers of trainees in preparation for taking over more work.

English: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100613-27823.html

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.