Tag Archives: staples

Postal Workers Rally in Boston

On October 18, Postal workers and their supporters rallied in front of Boston’s main post office to protest job cutbacks that have led to long lines and delivery delays around New England. Scott Hoffman, president of the Boston chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, says hundreds of area vacancies have gone unfilled.

A pilot program to outsource operations to Staples, Inc. was scrapped last spring after a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ordered the US Postal Service to discontinue its retail relationship with Staples. The Staples deal was an attempt to replace union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers.

NLRB to Rule on Postal Services at Staples Stores

In August the National Labor Relations Board will rule whether the Postal Service violated its collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) by outsourcing post office services to Staples stores. Typically, Staples’ employees earn about one-third as much as the average post office employee. APWU contends that the Postal Service violated the CBA by illegally subcontracting the work without negotiating with the union.

APWU Speaks Out Against Office Supply Merger

American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is asking federal anti-trust regulators to stop the proposed merger of Office Depot and Staples. If the deal went through, there would be just one major office supply retail chain in the country. There were three before OfficeMax and Office Depot merged in 2013. APWU also opposes the Postal Service’s outsourcing of services at Staples. The nonunion office supply chain pays most of its employees close to minimum wage.