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The big battles ahead will be with labor unions, and the White House is gearing for a major fight with postal workers as the deadline approaches next month on a new contract. Since 1971 postal workers' wages have risen 86.9%, to an average of $8 an hour, vs. $5.51 for private nonfarm workers. Unions resent being singled out as the culprits, and they have a point. Though Carter has asked that companies promise to hold down prices as well as wages, few have done so. None have been so direct as U.S. Steel, whose chairman, Edgar Speer, threatened last week to raise prices 7% by year's end if inflation is not brought under control.