Negotiations between the USPS and two unions will continue for two more weeks after they failedto reach agreement over new labour deals by a second deadline yesterday.
The US postal operator started separate negotiations with the National Association of LetterCarriers, AFL-CIO (NALC) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, AFL-CIO (NPMHU) in Augustwith the aim of sealing new agreements before the present ones expired on November 20. But this wasnot achieved and talks were extended until December 7 to gain two more weeks for negotiations.Yesterday, USPS said all parties had now agreed to continue negotiations until midnight on Friday,December 16.
Describing the outcome as “critical” for the future, USPS noted that should negotiations fail, aprocess would begin that could result in a third party determining contract terms and work rulesfor approximately 240,000 employees. The NALC represents more than 195,000 employees who work asletter carriers delivering mail primarily in urban areas. The NPMHU represents more than 45,000employees who work in mail processing plants and Post Offices.
In the USA, postal employees are not permitted to strike as Congress has designated the PostalService as an essential service to the nation. An arbitrator determines the final outcome and isnot legally required to consider the Postal Service’s financial obligations when rendering adecision.
Cash-strapped USPS, which has described itself as ‘technically insolvent’, wants to reduceoperating costs by $20 billion by 2015 to return to profit. It is seeking to downsize its workforcesubstantially along with other major restructuring measures including closure of mail processingcentres and post offices in order to have a smaller network and workforce in future to handle muchsmaller postal volumes.
The NALC said there had been “intensive” discussions with USPS management on “a full range ofcontract issues affecting working conditions and workplace rights”. Union president Fred Rolandocommented: “We have been working in good faith to hammer out a new contract and we hope that thisextension will lead to an agreement that our members can enthusiastically ratify. We remaincommitted to negotiating a fair contract that will advance the best interests of the nation’s cityletter carriers.”
The other two major US postal unions are the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), representingabout 200,000 clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and people in administrativepositions, and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA), representing about 66,000career and 48,000 non-career employees who deliver mail primarily in rural and suburban areas.
