{"id":8413,"date":"2014-09-10T09:37:41","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T14:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=8413"},"modified":"2014-09-10T09:37:41","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T14:37:41","slug":"apwu-postal-workers-teachers-customers-take-dont-buy-campaign-to-staples-home-turf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2014\/09\/10\/apwu-postal-workers-teachers-customers-take-dont-buy-campaign-to-staples-home-turf\/","title":{"rendered":"APWU: Postal Workers, Teachers, Customers Take \u2018Don\u2019t Buy\u2019 Campaign to Staples\u2019 Home Turf"},"content":{"rendered":"

09\/10\/2014<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>– APWU<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Teachers (in yellow shirts) turned out in force for the Boston protest.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Opponents of a no-bid deal between Staples and the USPS are taking the fight to the Massachusetts-based company\u2019s home turf. \u00a0In August, postal workers, teachers and customers staged rallies in and around Boston, and they\u2019re planning to conduct continuing protests in the region.<\/p>\n

The APWU is also reaching out to workers and students at\u00a0Harvard, whose president, Drew Faust, sits on Staples\u2019 board of directors. The union hopes the Harvard community will embrace the\u00a0<\/span>Stop Staples<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>movement.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts is one of four test sites for the Staples-USPS deal, which established postal counters in 82 of the office-supply stores. The counters are staffed with low-wage Staples employees rather than USPS workers. The Postal Service and the retailer hope to expand the program to all of Staples\u2019 1,500 U.S. stores.<\/p>\n

Union members and customers have staged hundreds of rallies in front of Staples stores around the country in opposition to the deal, with rallies on an almost-daily basis beginning in California in January, then Atlanta, Pittsburgh and now Massachusetts. Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the Staples store in the busy City Hall Plaza on Aug. 27 at 5 p.m., as people left for home after work. A similar event was held on Aug. 20 in Saugus.<\/p>\n

An internal\u00a0<\/span>USPS document<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>makes clear that the goal of the deal is to replace the jobs held by postal employees with low-paying jobs at Staples.<\/p>\n

Propping Up a Struggling Company<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"
Postal workers, teachers and others in Boston’s City Hall Plaza.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBut this isn\u2019t just about postal jobs,\u201d said John Dirzius, Northeast Region Coordinator. \u201cIt is about protecting the public Postal Service. Many people are outraged that a cherished public asset is being used to prop up a struggling private company.\u201d Staples recently announced another quarter of declining sales, and confirmed plans to close 140 stores in 2014. \u201cStaples makes business decisions based on the bottom line, not service to the people of the country,\u201d Dirzius said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA failing private company doesn\u2019t belong in the postal business,\u201d said Bob Dempsey, Vice President of the Boston Metro Local. \u201cPostal consumers want reliable service from highly-trained workers who have taken an oath to protect their letters and packages. Staples can\u2019t offer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers in the area offered wholehearted support for the \u2018Don\u2019t Buy Staples\u2019 campaign. They are an essential element in the boycott because school supplies account for approximately 30 percent of the company\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Boston Teachers Union and its\u00a011,000 members strongly support the postal workers who provide an excellent service to the American public,\u201d said BTU President Richard Stutman. \u201cContracting\u00a0that service out to a third party will diminish that service and weaken a great American institution. We stand behind our postal workers 100 percent and will urge our members to boycott Staples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Protesters march at a Boston Staples stores on Aug. 27.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the middle of the crucial back-to-school season,\u00a0<\/span>Seeking Alpha,<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>a leading investment website,\u00a0<\/span>reported that Staples is so \u201cdesperate\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to win sales that it is offered a 110% price-match guarantee on school supplies. \u201cThe retailer is admitting that the only way that it can get customers in the door is to practically give some of its products away,\u201d the website reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Staples wants to give away products that\u2019s their business,\u201d Dirzius said. \u201cBut when the U.S. Postal Service tries to give away a public resource, that\u2019s everybody\u2019s business.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week earlier, postal workers and supporters joined members of the Lynn Teachers Union for a rally at a Staples store in Saugus on Aug. 20.<\/p>\n

Staples, facing declining sales and revenue, has announced plans to close 225 stores by the end of 2015. \u201cThe Post Office is a public asset, and we\u2019re here to provide a public service \u2013 not a backdoor bailout to a struggling private company,\u201d said Bob Dempsey, Vice President of the APWU\u2019s Boston Metro Local. \u201cIf it is allowed to continue, this program will lead to the closing of neighborhood post offices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: APWU<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

09\/10\/2014\u00a0– APWU Teachers (in yellow shirts) turned out in force for the Boston protest. Opponents of a no-bid deal between Staples and the USPS are taking the fight to the Massachusetts-based company\u2019s home turf. \u00a0In August, postal workers, teachers and customers staged rallies in and around Boston, and they\u2019re planning to conduct continuing protests in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8413","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\/8413","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=8413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8415,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8413\/revisions\/8415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}