The APWU is ramping up its campaign demanding that Staples and the USPS agree to place postal workers at postal units in Staples stores. Join the campaign at StopStaples.com or text POSTAL to 91990.
APWU President Mark Dimondstein has sent an email message to union members and supporters urging them to sign on to the campaign and the union has been sharing our message on Facebook and Twitter. The APWU has enlisted support from the AFL-CIO and others in the labor movement, and is expanding outreach to others groups that are likely to support the campaign’s goals: Staffing postal counters with highly-trained, uniformed postal employees who are accountable to the people; protecting good jobs, and defending a public Postal Service.
The deal between the office-supply chain and the Postal Service established postal counters at 82 Staples stores in four geographic areas, but staffed them with non-postal, low-wage employees. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told the Associated Press that he hopes to expand the program to Staples’ 1,600 other stores as soon as possible.
More than 200 APWU members and supporters participated in protests at Staples stores in San Francisco and San Jose on Jan. 28 and APWU locals and retiree chapters around the country have presented letters expressing opposition to the program to hundreds of Staples stores.
Even if Diamondstein and the APWU is successful and Staples pulls out, it will NOT create new jobs…so it was all a photo op to make the lemmings think the Union is doing something!
I had heard that it costs the Postal Service $.40 to sell $1.00 worth of services from a traditional Postal run facility. That is unsustainable, if true.
What about the new USPS employee PSE staffing the stores?
Will WalMart’s be next?
Then will come Dollar General.