NEW YORK CITY – Members of the American Postal Workers Union will protest at Times Square in midtown Manhattan on March 15, as an executive from the troubled office-supply chain Staples rings the opening bell for the NASDAQ stock market

Who:      Members of the American Postal Workers Union

What:     Protest against the company’s use of low-wage, high turnover employees to staff “postal counters” in Staples stores around the country.

Where:   Nasdaq MarketSite - 4 Times Square - 43^rd & Broadway

When:    Tuesday, March 15, immediately prior to Nasdaq Opening Bell at 9:15 am

Neil Ringel, Executive Vice President, Staples Business Advantage, will represent the company on Tuesday morning to mark the launch of a new “strategic business initiative.”

“This company’s strategy is to attack an American treasure – our public U.S. Postal Service – with phony “postal counters” inside Staples stores,” said Dennis O’Neil, a retired postal worker.  “Staples employees are not properly trained to handle the nation’s mail and letters and packages customer drop off at Staples are not treated with the same level of security as mail handled at your neighborhood post office.”

 “Make no mistake, this is a back door plan to privatize our mail service,” O’Neil said. “We’re here at the front door of Nasdaq because the American people want to keep our public Postal Service, with high standards of quality, transparency and customer service.”

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The American Postal Workers Union represents 200,000 employees of the United States Postal Service, and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. For more information on APWU, visit www.apwu.org