Germany's postal service open for more talks with union to avert possible strike

FRANKFURT, Germany: Deutsche Post AG said Sunday that it was open to a resumption of talks with union ver.di in a bid to avoid a possible walkout at Germany's primary mail delivery company.

The Bonn-based company said in a statement that it remained open and willing to talk about securing existing jobs and finding common ground on pay increase demands, but reiterated that expanding the current work week would have to be part of any discussions.

Talks between both sides broke off early Saturday morning with ver.di rejecting an offer that Deutsche Post said would amount to a 5.5 percent pay increase and involve a half-hour increase in the working week for employees.

The union had sought a 7 percent increase, among other demands, pointing to healthy profits.

Unions in several sectors have argued this year that workers deserve generous wage increases after years of restraint.

Their case has been helped by concern in Germany over perceptions that wealth from the country's recent economic upswing is being distributed unfairly.

But the European Central Bank is concerned that excessive wage increases could help fuel second-round inflation in the euro zone, which is currently at 3.6 percent.

Source: IHT