Word: postally
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...months as inflation goes up. Though consumer prices are rising at an alarming 11.4%, Administration officials are hopeful that the rate of increase wi now begin to ease as food prices start to decline, and that inflation will average 7% for the year as a whole. If so, the postal workers should get no more than 6.5% in total pay increases during the contract's first year...
Though the postmen had initially demanded wage increases that would have totaled 14% in the first year alone, the real sticking point in the talks was that the Postal Service wanted to drop the no-layoff clause that was in the old contract. The unions feared that increasing automation in the sorting of mail could put more and more of their members out of work. Finally, at 10 p.m. last Thursday, two hours before the formal expiration of the contract, the Postal Service negotiators agreed to retain the no-layoff clause, and progress on the other issues came almost immediately...
...Administration remained officially silent on the results, perhaps taking a lesson from its inept handling of last winter's coal strike, when Carter went on television to proclaim the strike settled only to have the miners reject the pact in a ratification vote. The postal contract still has to be ratified by the membership of four separate unions in votes that begin next week. Having leaned on the Postal Service to hang tough in the negotiations, the White House was not eager to be seen gloating over the result. Said one Carter adviser: "We want to do anything...
...postal pay deal was the last major union contract on the negotiation calendar this year and the first one to be settled within reasonable limits. Last March, in a peace-at-any-price frenzy, the Administration pressured coal operators into accepting a contract that will increase miners' total compensation by perhaps as much as 39% over the next three years. Two weeks ago, despite considerable White House jawboning, the railroads agreed to raise the wages of 340,000 of their workers by nearly as much. The Administration recognized that unless that pattern were broken with the postal workers, there...
...vote for Carter in 1976, but his Administration has failed to push through many of their favorite bills. They have also been infuriated by the repeated charges of Carter's inflation fighters that labor has done nothing to help slow the rise in prices. With the postal settlement, however, both sides have the chance to change their tunes. Labor leaders can say that the postal workers accepted a moderate deal, while Carter can pat them on the back for that-and implore other unions to follow...