The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 78/No. 19      May 19, 2014

 
Postal workers protest plans
to cut jobs, undermine union
 
BY KEVIN COLE
AND NORTON SANDLER  
LOS ANGELES — On a crowded street here April 24, 100 postal workers and their supporters picketed a Staples store chanting, “U.S. mail is not for sale.” They were protesting the U.S. Postal Service’s deal with the office supply chain to open mail counters in Staples stores where workers have no union and are paid less than postal employees.

The protest was part of a day of action called by the American Postal Workers Union in 56 locations in 27 states. Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union also took part.

The Staples pilot program began in November 2013 and includes 82 stores in California, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Massachusetts.

According to the Letter Carriers Union, the Postal Service has eliminated more than 193,000 jobs since 2006, 630 post offices have been closed and post office bosses say they plan to close 229 facilities by the end of the year.

“They are trying to bust our union,” said James Russell, a steward in Postal Workers Local 917 in Anaheim.

“The main issue is jobs. This is a form of outsourcing,” said Phil Warlick, the Postal Workers’ California legislative director. “Will the American people tolerate the transfer of a public institution to private interests?”

“Good jobs are being lost to a poorly run Staples,” said Cheryl deVaux from Local 917. “Even the one we are picketing is closing.”

Some 60 postal workers and supporters protested at a Staples in Atlanta.

“This is part of the Postal Service’s plan to downsize and close post offices, and eliminate jobs that pay a living wage,” said Judy Johnson, a post office clerk. “Staples employees are mostly part-time and get no benefits.”

“If you contract out to Staples, more post offices will be closed in rural areas with working-class communities,” said Lamont Brooks, assistant director of the Postal Workers union’s Clerk Division.

“This pilot program isn’t in D.C. yet,” William Colbert, an electronic technician and member of the Postal Workers union, said at the protest of 200 in Washington. “But we can’t fight it city by city. We have to stand together because the labor movement is under attack.”

Arlene Rubinstein and Omari Musa in Washington, D.C., and Janice Lynn in Atlanta contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
Calif. port drivers fight for union: We’re workers, not ‘contractors’
Statement by Eleanor García, Socialist Workers candidate for California governor
 
 
 
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