'Frustrated' postal union continues negotiations

One of the nation's largest postal unions is "increasingly frustrated" with the pace of negotiations with the Postal Service but plans to stay at the negotiating table, it said Monday.

The American Postal Workers Union, which represents about 220,000 postal clerks, custodians, drivers, mechanics and administrative personnel, will keep trying to secure a deal with postal negotiators. Its contract expired in November.

"We are determined to safeguard jobs," APWU President Cliff Guffey said in a statement to union members Monday. A moratorium on "excessing," or reassigning employees to new duties or locations depending on mail volume, remains in effect as negotiations continue, he said.

Such reassignments, which are permitted under current collective bargaining agreements, often force workers to move great distances to keep their job, said union officials unauthorized to speak on the record.

The union is working to eliminate the practice to "restore a sense of stability," Guffey said.

Negotiations continue amid a record-breaking $8.5 billion in losses for the Postal Service in the fiscal year that ended in September. Losses are expected to top $7 billion this year, according to postal estimates.

The Postal Service remains tight-lipped on the labor talks, refusing to comment until a deal is signed.

"We're still negotiating," USPS spokesman Mark Saunders said.

Postal negotiators in November failed to reach a deal with the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, which represents more than 100,000 rural letter carriers.

An arbitrator is expected to help iron out an agreement soon, postal and union officials said.