Berlin - Hundreds of German postal workers came out on token strikes Monday ahead of a ballot on an unlimited shutdown in support of demands for increased pay.
Services union Verdi said 800 of its members had walked off the job in nine sorting centres, including Berlin, Dresden, Duisburg, Hanover, Hamburg and Stuttgart.
Some 3 million deliveries were delayed, according to the union, Germany's second largest with some 2.2 million members in total.
Verdi is to ballot its members starting Friday on an all-out strike that could begin on May 2, the first major strike in the sector since 1994.