In a letter to Staples CEO Ronald L. Sargent and Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry wrote, \u201cOn behalf of the Service Employees International\u2019s 2 million members, I am writing to express SEIU\u2019s strong opposition to the United States Postal Service\u2019s decision to operate postal counters in Staples stores, and to inform you that SEIU is boycotting all Staples stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cSEIU will no longer do business with Staples, and we will actively encourage our local unions, members, community allies and their friends, colleagues and family members to refrain from doing business with Staples retail stores, Staples.com, Staples Advantage and all Staples branded proprietary products until such time as you rethink your pilot program. \u201cThis misguided program jeopardizes the integrity and quality of United States mail service and undercuts skilled middle class jobs by shifting them to part-time, low-wage, non-union hourly employees.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, the U.S. Postal Service is the largest single civilian employer of union middle class jobs for African Americans and Veterans (including disabled veterans) and is the largest single civilian union employer in the U.S. This country needs more of these types of jobs to strengthen our economy and the middle class. Our members will not accept your decision to outsource their neighborhood post offices to a low-wage, big-box retailer.\u201d<\/p>\n AFT-Massachusetts and Others<\/strong><\/p>\n Several other labor organizations have also joined the \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n The American Federation of Teachers-Massachusetts voted to boycott the store, and their delegates plan to wear Stop Staples T-shirts on the day the national union votes on the boycott at the AFT convention next month.<\/p>\n On June 23, the Rhode Island AFL-CIO Executive Board unanimously passed a Resolution to Support the United States Postal Workers by boycotting any and all purchases at Staples Stores nationally. In an email to Rhode Island AFL-CIO labor leaders, the board requested \u201cthat each and every union send a letter to Staples CEO Ronald L. Sargent expressing your intent to no longer patronize their stores.\u201d<\/p>\n On June 19, the NoVA [Northern Virginia] Area Labor Federation AFL-CIO also passed a \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 resolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"stop-staples\"](\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/stop-staples.gif\")
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