LABOR

Arbitrators Decide Postal Labor Contract: A three-member arbitration panel has worked out a four-year labor agreement for postal workers, replacing one that expired last November, the U.S. Postal Service said. The panel’s decision affects 365,000 members of the American Postal Workers Union. It provides for a lump-sum cash payment of 2.78% of an employee’s base annual pay in the first year. In the second and fourth years, workers will receive a 1.2% general increase plus cost-of-living adjustments. In the third year, they will get a $400 lump sum plus cost-of-living raises. The Postal Service and another union, the National Postal Mail Handlers, will now try to work out their contract dispute.