NATIONAL
APWU decries Staples ‘ruse,’ boycott grows
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 16, 2014) — The following statement has been issued by American Postal Workers Union (APWU) President Mark Dimondstein:
A Staples announcement on July 14 indicating that the company is terminating its no-bid deal with the U.S. Postal Service and replacing it with an “approved shipper” program is a ruse. Staples and the USPS are changing the name of the program, without addressing the fundamental concerns of postal workers and postal customers. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
The Staples announcement and a letter from the USPS dated July 7 make it clear: They intend to continue to privatize postal retail operations, replace living-wage Postal Service jobs with low-wage Staples jobs, and compromise the safety and security of the mail.
A USPS spokesperson confirmed the APWU’s claim, telling the Boston Globe, “We look forward to continuing the partnership whether it’s called Retail Partner Expansion or approved shipper. We just want our customers to know they can continue to get postal services at these 82 locations.”
The people of this country have a right to postal services provided by highly trained, uniformed USPS employees who are sworn to safeguard the mail.
This attempt at trickery shows that the ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ movement is having an effect. We intend to keep up the pressure until Staples gets out of the mail business. The U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale.
So the boycott of Staples, which has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, continues. In fact, it is growing. In the past few weeks, unions representing millions of Americans — including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), and many others — have endorsed the Staples boycott.
Learn more here and send a message to Staples here.
AFL-CIO Now contributed to this story.
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