BERLIN (Reuters) – A pay increase for 15,000 workers at Deutsche Bank’s retail unit Postbank has been agreed with management, a union said on Wednesday, brightening prospects for a wage deal for the broader industry after months of wrangling and strikes.
The deal, sealed on Tuesday evening, comes as inflation in Germany hovers above 5% and after Deutsche paid its chief executive officer 20% more in 2021 to reward him for the bank’s most profitable year in a decade.
Under the deal’s terms, workers get a 3.1% pay increase from June 1 and a further increase of 2.1% from February 2023, the Verdi union said. The deal also includes 750-euro payments in May and January.
The union had asked for a 6% wage increase and other benefits.
Workers went on a strike on Friday, the latest volley in the ongoing pay negotiations ahead of Tuesday’s third round of talks.
Attention now turns to wage talks for 60,000 workers at Germany’s public-sector banks and 140,000 workers at private banks.
Those workers have been seeking 4.5% pay increase, as well as other rights such as working outside the office. That wage dispute has been going since last year.
High inflation had strengthened the hand of union officials, but the banks have faced stiff competition and low profits, which has resulted in efforts to cut costs and reduce headcount.
Germany has more banks per capita than most of its neighbours and other industrialised economies.
(Reporting by Frank Siebelt and Tom Sims; Editing by Miranda Murray)
