Verdi calls one-day DHL strike as wage talks stall

# Verdi calls one-day DHL strike as wage talks stall

*Event date: 2025-01-28*

German trade union Verdi said it is calling a one-day strike at DHL and Deutsche Post after negotiations over pay and leave failed to move forward. The dispute affects around 170,000 employees, and the union is demanding a 7% wage increase plus extra paid leave for some staff. The company, by contrast, says wage increases must remain economically viable.

The immediate trigger was the lack of progress in a second round of talks last week. Verdi deputy chairperson Andrea Kocsis said there had been hardly any movement and no tangible results, and she urged workers to show they were serious about their demands. The union’s message is that living costs remain high and that postal workers need a wage deal that keeps pace.

DHL and Deutsche Post are a major part of Germany’s logistics system, so even a one-day stoppage can create noticeable disruption. The packet says workers at the Deutsche Post subsidiary were set to stage the strike, with the protest aimed at the broader DHL group that also operates the German postal service. That makes the action both industrial and practical: it is about pay, but it also has immediate consequences for deliveries and mail handling.

Deutsche Post’s response is equally clear. The company argued that costs in the sector are too high and called for salary increases that are economically viable. That language points to a familiar battleground in Germany’s labour disputes, where unions frame demands as necessary for workers facing inflation and employers frame restraint as necessary for competitiveness. The next round of talks is scheduled for 12-13 February, so the strike is as much a pressure tactic as it is an end in itself.

Verdi has used similar tactics in other sectors, and the source notes that strikes have become more frequent as unions push back against cost-of-living pressures. The DHL action therefore fits a wider pattern in which German workers are pressing harder for higher wages even as companies cite tighter margins and slower growth. The postal dispute is not a stand-alone flare-up; it sits inside a broader industrial climate in which the tension between pay claims and business costs has become harder to resolve.

For now, the important fact is simple: Verdi has escalated the dispute and DHL faces a one-day stoppage. The next round of bargaining will show whether the union’s move produces concessions or merely hardens the stand-off.

The next negotiation date gives the dispute a clear pressure point. Verdi can keep the strike short and still make its case that workers are prepared to escalate if they do not see movement. For DHL and Deutsche Post, the challenge is to absorb the disruption while arguing that any pay deal must stay within what the business can support. The source shows a familiar German pattern: unions trying to defend living standards and employers warning that pay increases cannot outrun operating costs.

The size of the workforce involved is what gives the strike weight. Around 170,000 Deutsche Post employees are covered by the dispute, so even a one-day stoppage can ripple through mail and parcel systems quickly. The union is betting that visible disruption will force movement before the February talks. The company is betting that it can hold the line on costs. That gap is why the dispute has moved from a pay demand to a test of bargaining strength.