Federal Daily News
Postal talks extended into 2012
The U.S Postal Service and two postal unions last week again extended the deadline for their ongoing labor negotiations, this time for another month.
In separate negotiations, USPS and the two unions—the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union—have agreed to extend the deadline for labor talks to midnight, Jan. 20, 2012, two months after the expiration of their contracts on Nov. 20, 2011. The prior extension ended Dec. 16.
According to a Postal Service release, the parties will use the extra time to work on “important economic, health care, workplace and other contractual issues.”
“We are encouraged that progress is still being made and we want to take all the time necessary to reach an agreement that serves the interests of America’s city letter carriers,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said in a statement. For its part, NPMHU cited “progress, albeit slow progress” in the negotiations.
NALC represents more than 195,000 postal employees, primarily urban letter carriers; NPMHU represents more than 46,000 employees who work in mail processing facilities and post offices. USPS said fiscal 2011 wages and benefits for NALC and NPMHU employees exceeded $15.7 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively.
Should negotiations fail, a third party will be delegated to determine contract terms and work rules.