It said the strike had affected its cable installation, technical services, and call-center units, with most of the walkout taking place in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, and Lower Saxony.
Earlier last week, 96.5% of the members of the services union Ver.di voted for a general strike, despite pleas from CEO Rene Obermann not to walk out. The dispute centers over DT’s plans to transfer approximately 50,000 civil servants, a legacy that DT has carried since it was privatized in 1995, to a new service unit known as T-Service by July this year.
DT is in the midst of financial and operational struggles. Last week it reported first-quarter net income of 459m euros ($620m), down from 1.09bn euros ($1.47bn) in the year-ago period. Europe’s largest fixed-line carrier is also losing fixed-line customers and is struggling to expand its services operations beyond Germany.
