WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first time in more than a decade the post office has reached a tentative bargaining agreement with two of its largest unions.
The prospective deals with the American Postal Workers Union and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union were announced Wednesday night, concluding negotiations that began in August.Contracts with the post office's three largest unions expired Nov. 20. Talks broke off at that time with the National Association of Letter Carriers, but the union said today that negotiations are "expected to resume in the near term."
The settlement with the Postal Workers Union includes an 18-month ban on contracting out postal jobs, a major concern of union president Moe Biller.
But other details of the two-year pacts, which still must be ratified by union members, were not immediately disclosed.
The Postal Workers Union represents 361,253 employees, while the Mail Handlers have 61,083 members. The Letter Carriers represent 241,303 members.
There was no threat of strike, which is illegal for postal employees.
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.
Current pay ranges from $27,011 to $37,623 for the postal workers and letter carriers and from $23,023 to $35,868 for the mail handlers.