Workers at Germany's Postbank branches nationwide plan to stage a two-day strike beginning on Friday amid collective bargaining talks with the bank.
The trade union Verdi, which represents Postbank employees, on Thursday called on about 12,000 unionized workers to join the strikes aimed at forcing a better offer from the bank, including larger salary increases.
Postbank is a subsidiary of German banking giant Deutsche Bank.
"The employees expect long-term job guarantees and clear material appreciation for their work and the particular burdens of recent months," Verdi negotiator Jan Duscheck said on Thursday.
Verdi also warned that it would escalate labour actions and ask members to vote to authorize longer-term strikes against the bank if it doesn't "significantly improve its offer by the next negotiation date on April 16," according to Duscheck.
The trade union is demanding wage increases of at least 15.5% in the ongoing collective bargaining talks. Verdi said that Postbank has offered raises of at least 6.4% on June 1, with another 2% raise to follow in July 2025.
Deutsche Bank has announced plans to close up to 250 of the 550 Postbank branches by mid-2026 and make staff cuts. Verdi, on the other hand, is demanding long-term job protections for staff through the end of 2028.
Shortly before Christmas, Deutsche Bank assured that it would refrain from making redundancies for employees covered by collective wage agreements at its retail bank in Germany until the end of September this year.
