{"id":7470,"date":"2014-04-30T15:47:07","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T20:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=7470"},"modified":"2014-04-30T15:47:07","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T20:47:07","slug":"house-delegation-urges-pmg-to-reject-deal-teachers-vote-to-boycott-staples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2014\/04\/30\/house-delegation-urges-pmg-to-reject-deal-teachers-vote-to-boycott-staples\/","title":{"rendered":"House Delegation Urges PMG to Reject Deal; Teachers Vote to Boycott Staples"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 30, 2014<\/p>\n

California opponents of the USPS deal with Staples delivered two stunning blows to the program yesterday: Thirty members of the U.S. House of Representatives from California called on Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe to reject the program, and the California Federation of Teachers voted to boycott Staples.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe USPS-Staples program is a dramatic step in the wrong direction, as it threatens the livelihoods of thousands of USPS employees and jeopardizes the promise of universal mail service to all communities \u2014 an obligation Staples, a private corporation, does not have,\u201d the U.S. representatives wrote in an April 29 letter to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe<\/a>. [PDF] \"1aa-APWU-small\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe USPS-Staples units would allow low wage, non-postal employees to provide mail retail services traditionally performed by Postal Service employees\u2026 While we recognize the USPS should explore innovative ways to increase revenues and cut costs, we believe the pilot program is a clear and unmistakable attempt at union-busting, as well as the privatization of critical public services,\u201d they wrote. Thirty-one of the 82 \u201cpilot\u201d sites for the program are in California.<\/p>\n

The letter was initiated by Rep. Alan Lowenthal. Other signers were: Janice Hahn, Jackie Speier, Anna Eshoo, Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui, Brad Sherman, Loretta Sanchez, Henry Waxman, Barbara Lee, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Judy Chu, Zoe Lofgren, Xavier Becerra, Sam Farr, George Miller, Mark Takano, Grace Napolitano, Adam Schiff, Juan Vargas, Raul Ruiz, Susan Davis, Tony Cardenas, Eric Swalwell, John Garamendi, Ami Bera, Julia Brownley, Mike Honda, Karen Bass and Maxine Waters.<\/p>\n

Teachers Hold the Key<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a related development, the Executive Council of the\u00a0California Federation of Teachers (CFT) announced that it had voted unanimously to boycott the office supply retailer.<\/a> [PDF]\u00a0The organization represents 120,000 educational employees from Head Start through university.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s estimated that roughly one-third of Staples\u2019 revenues come from the sale of school supplies, making teachers a key ally in campaign to\u00a0Stop Staples!<\/p>\n

\u201cCFT has long been opposed to the privatization of public services in schools, colleges and other public institutions, especially when the contractual terms between the government agency and the private contractor are cloaked behind a veil of secrecy,\u201d the teacher\u2019s union wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese no-bid contracts point to a dirty deal. The consumer will suffer \u2014 a lack of postal training means less mail security and worse service, without any cost savings for the consumer,\u201d said CFT President Joshua Pechthalt.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy this simple act \u2014 asking our members and educators across the country to buy their school supplies elsewhere \u2014 we put USPS management and a profit seeking corporation on notice that the quality of mail delivery is not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0resolution<\/a> [PDF]\u00a0passed by the CFT on April 28 may extend beyond California. The resolution calls on the state union to introduce a similar resolution at the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers, which it will host in mid-July.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the people\u2019s post office, and the people have choices,\u201d said Pechthalt. \u201cWe want to send a clear message to USPS and Staples that we value public service. When it comes to privatizing the U.S. mail, we say \u2018no sale.\u2019 Our members have choices where to buy school supplies, and we won\u2019t shop at Staples as long as they operate postal counters without uniformed postal workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

APWU Applauds<\/strong><\/p>\n

APWU President Mark Dimondstein cheered the developments.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s great that our friends and allies are standing up against postal privatization and the transfer of good, living-wage jobs to low-wage jobs, and that they are demanding strong, public service for our customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAPWU members in California have done outstanding work,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have helped win support from our brothers and sisters in the labor movement and from their representatives in Congress. In addition, they have continued to mount as many as six or seven protests per week outside various Staples stores throughout the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI commend them and APWU members across the country for the outpouring of support for the campaign,\u201d Dimondstein said.<\/p>\n

Michael Evans, president of the California State APWU, recounted how the letter from 30 House members came about: \u201cI was talking to Rep. Lowenthal and I asked him if he knew about the Staples deal,\u201d he said. \u201cLike most representatives, he didn\u2019t,\u201d Evans recalled. \u201cWhen I told him about it, he immediately said, \u2018That\u2019s union-busting and privatization.\u2019 He volunteered to write a letter and get others House members to sign on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an excellent example of local, state and headquarters cooperation and just how powerful that teamwork can be,\u201d said Legislative and Political Director John Marcotte. \u201cThe efforts of Mike Evans, California Legislative Director Phil Warlick, and Grassroots Coordinators Melissa Matos and Janice Kelble were instrumental in making this legislative effort a reality and a template for other states to follow. Congratulations to all involved for a job well done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 30, 2014 California opponents of the USPS deal with Staples delivered two stunning blows to the program yesterday: Thirty members of the U.S. House of Representatives from California called on Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe to reject the program, and the California Federation of Teachers voted to boycott Staples. \u201cThe USPS-Staples program is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7471,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470\/revisions\/7471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}