BONN (dpa-AFX) - Due to warning strikes at Deutsche Post, about every sixth package and every tenth letter were delayed on Friday. 18,000 employees had stopped work at various locations nationwide, a Verdi spokeswoman said. "We are very pleased with the high turnout." According to the Post, the proportion of warning strikers at the affected sites was just over a third.

A Post spokesman spoke of 13,800 warning strike participants. Seventeen percent of the average daily parcel volume and 10 percent of letters were affected, he said. The Post did not give absolute figures for parcels and letters. The percentages are nationwide averages. Only some of the locations were affected by the strike - the average loss there is likely to have been higher.

In the wage dispute, Verdi is demanding 15 percent higher wages for the approximately 160,000 employees in the Post & Parcel Germany division, citing high inflation as one of the reasons.

For Deutsche Post, this is far too much. In the next round of collective bargaining on February 8 and 9, the company wants to present its own offer. Deutsche Post argues that it needs money for investments to modernize the mail network and thus secure jobs in the long term. If personnel costs rise too sharply, there will be a lack of funds for such urgently needed investments, management warns. Verdi, on the other hand, is of the opinion that a wage increase of 15 percent is "necessary, fair and feasible".

In the wage dispute, the union points to the increased profits that the Post has posted in recent times. However, the Post takes a critical view of this argument. "The majority of the frequently cited Group profit is now generated in international business," says a company spokesman. "Nevertheless, we want to continue to invest in our German mail and parcel business, which, however, can no longer generate the necessary investments itself."

For 2022, Deutsche Post Group-wide expects to post the highest operating profit (Ebit) in its history (8.4 billion euros). However, this is mainly due to booming freight and express businesses worldwide. In the Post & Parcel Germany division, however, the company's top management has forecast a declining operating profit (Ebit) for 2022 (1.35 billion euros). Roughly speaking, one-sixth of this is therefore generated with letters and parcels in Germany, but the personnel share of this area is only just under one-third in the Group (187,000 of 590,000).

There had already been warning strikes last week, and the second wave of warning strikes began on Thursday. The parcels and letters, which have not been forwarded since Thursday because of the work stoppage, should arrive "in the coming week" at the addressee, said the Post. The warning strikes are expected to continue in some places on Saturday./wdw/DP/ngu