Northwest labor press., July 18, 2014, Page 3, Image 3

Report that Staples terminated its contract
with U.S. Postal Service ‘a ruse,’ union says
A Staples announcement on July 14
indicating that the company was termi-
nating its no-bid contract with the U.S.
Postal Service (USPS) to provide satel-
lite post office branches in its stores and
replacing it with an “approved shipper”
program is a ruse, charged American
Postal Workers Union (APWU) Presi-
dent Mark Dimondstein.
Dimondstein said Staples and the
USPS are changing the name of the
program, without addressing the funda-
mental concerns of postal workers and
postal customers.
“The Staples announcement and a
letter from the USPS dated July 7 make
it clear: They intend to continue to pri-
vatize postal retail operations, replace
living-wage Postal Service jobs with
low-wage Staples jobs, and compro-
mise the safety and security of the
mail,” Dimondstein said.
“This attempt at trickery shows that
the ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ movement is
having an effect. We intend to keep up
the pressure until Staples gets out of the
mail business.”
The announcement that Staples
Portland rally July 26 to celebrate
239th birthday of Postal Service
A rally to celebrate the 239th birthday of the U.S. Postal Service will be held
Saturday, July 26, from noon to 1 p.m. at Portland’s Main Post Office, 715 NW
Hoyt (off Broadway).
Participants will cut birthday cake for the Postal Service, and cut Staples re-
ward cards in protest of the privatization scheme between USPS and the office
supply chain.
Speakers will include “Ben Franklin,” as well as representatives from the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO and the Portland Association of Teachers.
The rally and protest is sponsored by Communities and Postal Workers United,
the American Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers,
and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union.
For more information, call 503-752-5112 or go online to: www.StopSta-
ples.com .
would discontinue its contract with
USPS came days after the 1.5 million
member American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) joined a union-called
boycott of the office supply chain. Most
of the nation’s largest labor organiza-
tions, including the AFL-CIO, Service
Employees, AFSCME, and Fire Fight-
ers have endorsed the boycott. AFT’s
action was significant because roughly
one-third of Staples’ revenue comes
from the sale of school supplies.
Delegates attending AFT’s national
convention in Los Angeles passed the
Staples boycott resolution July 12. Af-
terward, they joined members of sev-
eral postal workers unions and other
supporters at a massive rally outside the
Staples Center arena in downtown Los
Angeles. Their message: “The U.S.
Mail is Not for Sale.”
Calling postal workers “the most
amazing public servants,” AFT Presi-
dent Randi Weingarten asked rallygo-
ers: “Who does Staples really want and
need to come into its stores every single
day? Teachers. The best way we can
help is if we say to Staples: ‘You do this
to the postal workers, and we aren’t
buying supplies in your stores.’ ”
The AFT resolution resolves “that
members of the AFT, along with
friends, colleagues and family mem-
bers, are urged to no longer shop at Sta-
ples stores until further notice.”
Staples — already faced with de-
clining sales and revenue — announced
in March plans to close 225 stores in
the United States and Canada by 2015
as part of a $500 million cost-cutting
program.
(Editor’s Note: In the Portland met-
ropolitan area, the Staples boycott has
support from the Oregon AFL-CIO, the
Northwest Oregon Labor Council, the
Portland Association of Teachers, Ore-
gon AFSCME Council 75, United Food
and Commercial Workers Local 555,
the Oregon State Council of Fire Fight-
ers, and others.)
...SEIU members picket at Emanuel
(From Page 1)
with inflation. Inflation has been about
2 percent a year the last several years.
Local 49 is proposing 4.5 percent. The
union is also proposing $1 an hour ex-
tra for weekend work, and it wants to
add an additional 25 cents to the cur-
rent $1.25 and $2.25 hourly bonuses
for working swing and night shifts.
Doherty said a majority of members
are at or near the top of a 10-step pay
scale, so the union is proposing that an
11th step be added. But Legacy has
said no to that also.
Emergency room technician Julie
Williams, a single mother, says she
earns $19.40 an hour after six years at
Emanuel, and can’t afford the em-
ployer-provided health insurance plan.
So she and her two children rely on the
Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan
for health insurance. They also receive
food stamps.
Doherty said there’s no talk of a
strike yet. More bargaining is sched-
uled for July 22 and 29.
2-1-1 can be a lifesaver
2-1-1 is an easy to remember tele-
phone number that connects callers to
information about critical health and
human services available in their com-
munities. In Oregon, it is run by
211info, in partnership with United
Way. It can be accessed online at
www.211info. org.
JULY 18, 2014
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 3