The US Postal Service said yesterday it had reached a “tentative” four-year contract agreement withthe American Postal Workers’ Union, although it is entering arbitration to resolve a dispute with
another large union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, which represents 225,000 deliveryworkers.USPS negotiators announced the deal with APWU following protracted negotiations that began inAugust with the four main postal sector unions.
APWU, which represents over 270,000 (44%) of the postal service’s 616,000 unionisedemployees, was seeking an increase of 4% a year for the duration of its new contract with the USPS.The parties would not give specific details of the agreement reached until APWU’s bargainingcommittee had ratified the deal later today.
“This is an outstanding agreement that protects the rights and interests of postal workersand the American people,” said APWU president William Burrus.
“The new contract will be presented to the rank-and-file bargaining committee (today). Upontheir approval, specific terms of the agreement will be announced,” he added.
USPS is continuing negotiations with two other postal sector unions – the National RuralLetter Carriers’ Association and the National Postal Mail Handlers’ Union – but is formally indispute with the NALC.
“Negotiations with the NALC were not successful and the two parties will now enter thedispute resolution process, which may include binding interest arbitration,” the postal servicesaid in a statement on its web site. The arbitration process can last over six months.
The agreement with the APWU is until November 2010. Announcing the deal, Doug Tulino, USPSvice president for labour relations, commented: “We believe this tentative agreement is in the bestinterests of our customers, our employees and all postal stakeholders.”
This year is the first time USPS has held negotiations separately with the four unions.
