An arbitrator announced a three-year agreement yesterday between the U.S. Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union, the largest union of the agency.
The arbitration decision, which runs through Nov. 20, 2003, affects 340,000 postal clerks, maintenance employees and motor vehicle operators.
Direct mailers had watched the negotiations closely because 80 percent of all postal costs are labor-related. The Direct Marketing Association, New York, said that it was encouraged by the settlement.
“On first review, we are encouraged that it appears as if the arbitrator took into account the state of the economy, the state of the postal service and the state of the mailing industry,” said H. Robert Wientzen, president/CEO of the DMA.
