From New York to California, APWU Saying ‘No' to Staples

Gearing up for the April 24 National Day of Action, APWU state and local organizations held demonstrations at Staples stores in several states in recent days. Across the country, union members were protesting the sweetheart deal between the USPS and Staples that set up postal “counters” in the office-supply stores staffed by low-wage Staples employees — rather than employees of the United States Postal Service.

In Albany on April 12, 50 delegates to the New York Postal Workers Union’s state convention visited a nearby Staples to tell customers and passersby, "The US Mail is Not for Sale!" Union members marched along the sidewalk in front of the store and handed out leaflets to pedestrians and motor vehicle occupants.

In Seattle on April 10, members of the Greater Seattle Area Local turned out en masse at a Staples outlet in Burien, WA to protest the Postal Service’s scheme to privatize postal retail work. Joining the demonstration in solidarity were members of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the Puget Sound Alliance for Retiree Action, Seattle Labor Chorus and Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity.

In Altoona IA, also on April 10, APWU members from eight mid-western states held a boisterous rally outside a Staples store to make sure the company’s executives in Framingham, MA hear the message loud and clear: Postal services must be performed by uniformed postal employees, who have taken an oath and are accountable to the American people. Dozens of delegates to the union’s 8-State Conference participated in the event.

Not to be outdone, the union members and citizens of Berkeley, CA staged yet another protest, on April 12, in front of a nearby Staples to protest the privatization of postal jobs and services.