Mail Handlers Get 6.6% Hike Over 5 Years

The National Postal Mail Handlers Union has ratified a five-year contract with the United States Postal Service that provides a total of 6.6 percent in raises.

The union's 55,000 postal workers voted late last month to ratify the deal, which provides a 1.2-percent wage increase retroactive to Nov. 25, 2006, and a second increase for the same amount effective Nov. 24, 2007.

Workers will see a third pay hike of 0.6 percent Feb. 16, 2008, and then subsequent 1.2-percent hikes each November from 2008 through 2010.

Concessions Made

The deal locked in cost-of-living adjustments at current levels, but in return trimmed the Postal Service's health-insurance contribution by one percentage point a year. It also added a step to the top of the pay schedule and added a new entry step that went into effect Feb. 3.

The ratified terms were tentatively agreed to by the union and the U.S. Postal Service last Dec. 13. The ratified contract runs through November 2011.