Illinois Local Delivers the Message

Postal workers in Springfield IL delivered a letter to the city’s Staples franchise on Jan. 14 voicing opposition to the retail chain’s plans for opening pilot postal retail units staffed by non-USPS employees in more than 80 Staple stores.

Though none of the pilot locations are in Illinois, APWU members expressed their strong disapproval in the letter delivered by Lincoln Land Area Local President James O’Connell.

Only U.S. Postal Service postal employees, they wrote, “are fully accountable to the public, and sworn to uphold the sanctity of the mail.”

The store’s manager accepted the letter from O’Connell but had no comment, referring the matter to a Staples district manager.

A television camera sent by a local TV channel was denied entry into the store to film the exchange. Click here to see the ABC affiliate’s story.