July 20, 1987
Bargaining between the U.S. Postal Service
and its two largest unions resumed after a four-day impasse. The
contract between the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers
Union and the National Assn. of Letter Carriers, which together
represent about 580,000 workers, expires at midnight tonight.
No disruption of mail service is expected,
even if an accord is not reached, because federal law prohibits
strikes by postal workers.
The bargaining had been broken off in a dispute
over a separate pact with the Mail Handlers Division of the Laborers
International Union. Union officials said that a memorandum of
understanding had been signed that satisfied their concerns about
the mail handlers contract.