German union calls for strikes at Deutsche Post

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German labor union ver.di said it has called for nationwide strikes Tuesday and Wednesday at Deutsche Post AG , putting increased pressure on the mail and logistics company in a wage dispute.

Several thousand employees across Germany are likely to join the strike, the labor union said.

Monday, 250 employees striked at two different German sites, including at Frankfurt's international airport, where the majority of international mail is processed.

The union is demanding a 6% wage increase for 132,000 Deutsche Post employees represented in a new collective wage pact to run for 12 months, and improvements for about 43,000 civil servants as well as trainees.

The parties failed to reach an agreement in the second round of negotiations on April 15 and postponed further talks until April 25. Deutsche Post employees have been conducting warning strikes on and off since April 17.

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Union delivers postie pay rise after marathon talks

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Germany's biggest workers' union bagged higher wages for postal workers on Friday after a marathon 20-hour meeting. The agreement comes after country-wide post strikes disrupted deliveries last week.

The details are yet to be confirmed, but 132,000 staff at Deutsche Post – Germany's postal service provider – will get pay rises, a spokesman from public service union Verdi confirmed, after talks ended early on Friday morning.

Verdi called post workers to strike last Wednesday, leaving millions of letters and parcels undelivered as employees fought for a 6 percent pay increase which would deliver at least €140 more each month.

Those on strike were mostly delivery staff but Verdi warned that if its demands were not heard, further strikes could involve those working in other sections of the company.

Wednesday's action saw, in North Rhine-Westphalia alone, around 600 posties not turning up for work, leaving at least one million letters and packets undelivered, a spokesman from the state's post office confirmed on the day.

In Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, 500 stayed away, while the 300 missing letter carriers in the central state of Hesse meant 600,000 missives were not delivered.