Postal Service, Unions Make Deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of negotiations, the Postal Service and two of its large unions reached a tentative agreement Wednesday on a new contract, postal officials said.

The agreement involves the 361,253-member American Postal Workers Union —- the post office's largest — and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, which has 61,083 members.

Talks with those two and a third labor group, the 241,303-member National Association of Letter Carriers, began in August. All three contracts expired Nov. 20.

There was no threat of strike, which is illegal for postal workers. However, when the post office and the same three unions were unable to reach agreement in their last two rounds of bargaining, in 1990 and 1994, the matter finally had to be resolved through binding arbitration.

If this deal is ratified by union members it will be the first negotiated settlement between the post office and these labor groups since 1987.

Postal officials said the tentative agreement with the postal workers and mail handlers is for two years but declined to discuss details of the settlement, which still must be submitted to union members for ratification.

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