The American Postal Workers Union Wins a Fight

A union representing U.S. postal union has won a major battle in its war to keep the U.S. Postal Service from becoming more privatized.

Recently, The U.S. Postal Service, under pressure from the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, ended a deal it had with office supply chain Staples.

Staples and USPS announced in late 2013 that they would launch a pilot program operating mini post offices in the company’s retail outlets.

The initial test markets were the San Francisco Bay Area, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and the Boston suburbs.

This move coincided with other USPS efforts to close some post offices. It was hoped that Staples, (and perhaps other retail locations) could “pick up the slack” created by the closure of post offices – which was prompted by demand for certain traditional mail services.

However, the union was having none of it.

Beginning in 2014, the APWU held protests, rallies and other demonstrations outside Staples retail locations and the Staples headquarters with crowds that at times numbered in the thousands, proclaiming “The U.S. Mail is Not For Sale!”

Staples will now be removing all signage and will discontinue postal services at the national retailer’s roughly 500 U.S. locations that handle postal services by the first week of March 2017.

In response, APWU is calling off the boycott of Staples effective immediately and will notify its many supporters and allies.