WASHINGTON – Rank-and-file members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) overwhelmingly ratified a new five-year National Agreement with the U.S. Postal Service covering city delivery letter carriers throughout the nation, the union announced today.

The vote for ratification was 104,346 to 11,895 according to Joseph DeRossi of NALC Branch 41, Brooklyn, New York, chairman of a special Ballot Committee that supervised the tabulation.

The tentative settlement, reached by negotiators on July 12, had been endorsed unanimously by the NALC Executive Council.

The contract includes general wage increases of 8.85 percent over the term of the agreement, along with semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments, and new protections against contracting out of letter carrier work by the Postal Service to private firms and individuals.

NALC President William H. Young applauded the 89.8 percent approval vote by the union membership.

“I am extremely pleased that members of this union agree that this is a good settlement that meets the interests and needs of both letter carriers and the Postal Service,” Young said. “This agreement shows that labor and management can work together to ensure that the American people continue to have the most efficient and dedicated postal system in the world.”

The agreement provides a 1.4 percent wage increase retroactive to November 25, 2006; a 1.8 percent increase in November 2007; 1.9 percent in November 2008; 1.9 percent in November 2009, and 1.85 percent in November 2010.

The contract runs until November 20, 2011.

The NALC represents all 222,000 city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service in the 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.