On Thursday, the Verdi trade union launched a new round of protests in the wage dispute at Deutsche Post.

Verdi called on employees in selected parcel and letter centers as well as in parcel, letter and group delivery to take part in all-day strikes. "The strikes are a clear signal from our members to the employer," said Verdi's head of negotiations Andrea Kocsis. According to Swiss Post, around 3100 employees took part in the protests. According to Verdi, there were around 6000 people. According to the Post, around 450,000 parcels were affected nationwide, which corresponds to just under seven percent of the average daily volume. Around 1.7 million letters were also delayed.

Verdi is demanding 15 percent more pay for the approximately 160,000 tariff employees in Germany for a period of twelve months. The postal service had already rejected the wage demand several times as unrealistic. The company had announced its intention to put an offer on the table in the third round of negotiations on February 8 and 9. According to Verdi, around 30,000 employees took part in an initial wave of protests last week.

(Report by Katharina Loesche and Matthias Inverardi, edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)