BONN (dpa-AFX) - Deutsche Post's chief financial officer does not see much room for maneuver for the German mail and parcel business when collective bargaining with the Verdi union resumes. "That there is not much left, I think it is obvious," Melanie Kreis told financial news agency dpa-AFX in Troisdorf on Thursday. There, the Dax group had presented its figures for the past year.

"We can't do anything where we are then rightly reproached in three years' time 'my God, how could you, that wasn't sustainable and now we are faced with an almost insoluble problem'," the manager added. In that case, she said, it would be more important to resolve the conflict now and find a solution that is sustainable.

The parties to the agreement plan to return to the negotiating table this Friday. According to Verdi, 85.9 percent of employees voted against the Post's collective bargaining offer and in favor of an indefinite strike in a strike ballot. However, the group has asked Verdi to resume negotiations, it said on Thursday.

Still Post CEO Frank Appel had said at the presentation of the balance sheet in the morning that the letter and parcel business in the domestic market contributed nothing to the dividend payment. There would be nothing left, "zero euro cents," said the manager, who will hand over the reins to Tobias Meyer in May after the annual general meeting after more than 15 years. According to Chief Financial Officer Kreis, the tariff offer presented by Deutsche Post would mean an additional burden of 750 million euros./lew/wdw/ngu/jha/