{"id":7667,"date":"2014-05-30T18:00:37","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T23:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=7667"},"modified":"2014-05-30T18:00:37","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T23:00:37","slug":"afl-cio-endorses-staples-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2014\/05\/30\/afl-cio-endorses-staples-boycott\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL-CIO Endorses Staples Boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"

APWU – May 30, 2014<\/p>\n

The \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019\u00a0campaign got a significant boost on May 30, when the AFL-CIO notified the APWU<\/a> [PDF] it would support the boycott of the office-supply chain. The labor federation is comprised of 56 unions representing 12.5 million members.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur brothers and sisters in the labor movement are key allies in this struggle and we greatly appreciate their support,\u201d said APWU President Mark Dimondstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 campaign is an essential component of the movement to stop the dirty deal between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples,\u201d he added. \"1aa-APWU-small\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Staples executive admitted the company\u00a0would be sensitive to a well-organized boycott, according to a May 21, article in the Boston Globe<\/a>. Staples Vice Chairman Joe Doody acknowledged the deal \u201ccould become a problem if more unions backed the postal workers,\u201d the paper reported. \u201cThe retailer will continue to evaluate the situation to determine whether the negative backlash is worth the benefits of the partnership,\u201d the article said.<\/p>\n

Union leaders are optimistic about the boycott. \u201cWorking men and women will readily understand the threat to living-wage jobs posed by the Postal Service\u2019s no-bid, sweetheart deal with Staples once they are made aware of the situation,\u201d Dimondstein said.<\/p>\n

The deal established postal counters in more than 80 Staples stores, staffed with Staples employees rather than highly-trained, uniformed U.S. Postal Service employees. The Postal Service and Staples hope to expand the program to all of Staples\u2019 1,500 U.S. stores.<\/p>\n

Staples employees who work full time earn about $18,000 per year and receive minimal training on how to handle U.S. Mail.<\/p>\n

\u201cAPWU members and our allies must spread the word about the \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 campaign to every labor organization in the country \u2013 at the national, state and local level \u2013 so that the rank-and-file union members get the message,\u201d the Dimondstein said. \u201cWe are confident they won\u2019t shop at Staples if they are made aware of the \u2018Don\u2019t Buy\u2019 campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also must reach out to residents whose postal service will suffer if U.S. Post Offices are replaced by knock-off post offices in Staples stores, which will be dedicated to the company\u2019s bottom line \u2013 not service to customers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The AFL-CIO is the latest labor organization to formally endorse<\/a> the \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 campaign. The National Postal Mail Handlers Union\u2019s National Executive Board officially endorsed the boycott on May 27. The California Federation of Teachers was the first to sign on to the campaign on April 27, followed by the AFT-Michigan on May 17 and the AFT-New Hampshire on May 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers will play an especially important role in the boycott, because roughly one-third of Staples\u2019 revenue comes from the sale of school supplies,\u201d Dimondstein said. The American Federation of Teachers is expected to consider a \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 resolution at its national convention in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

APWU – May 30, 2014 The \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019\u00a0campaign got a significant boost on May 30, when the AFL-CIO notified the APWU [PDF] it would support the boycott of the office-supply chain. The labor federation is comprised of 56 unions representing 12.5 million members. \u201cOur brothers and sisters in the labor movement are key allies […]<\/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-7667","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\/7667","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=7667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7668,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions\/7668"}],"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=7667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}