This week, Staples and the postal service announced that the plan to locate mini post offices in Staples stores—a plan that had drawn protest as replacing middle-class public jobs with low-wage privatized jobs—was off. The announcement followed a decision by the American Federation of Teachers to boycott Staples, a boycott that could have a big effect on sales of school supplies. This sounds like good news, but it's
not good enough, the president of the American Postal Workers Union says:
A Staples announcement on July 14 indicating that the company is terminating its no-bid deal with the U.S. Postal Service and replacing it with an “approved shipper” program is a ruse. Staples and the USPS are changing the name of the program, without addressing the fundamental 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 privatize postal retail operations, replace living-wage Postal Service jobs with low-wage Staples jobs, and compromise the safety and security of the mail.
It does seem like pressure is getting to Staples, though, and the APWU is vowing not to back off.
Continue reading below the fold for more of the week's labor and education news.
A fair day's wage
- Excellent news from New York, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to resume bargaining and reached a tentative deal with the union representing workers on the Long Island Rail Road:
Under the deal, LIRR workers will get 17 percent raises over 6 1/2 years and "all employees will for the first time contribute to their health insurance costs, and new employees will have different wage progressions and pension plan contributions," according to the governor's office.
The unions, following the recommendations of two federal mediation boards, had called for 17 percent raises over six years.
The workers will need to vote on the contract, but for now a threatened strike is off.
- Sheesh: Taxpayer subsidy to former hospital CEO is equal to 16,800 months of food stamps.
- If you care about labor and you're not following @blogwood yet, why not?
- What's making these Selma, Alabama, auto parts workers so sick? They have a theory, and they want a union to safeguard their health.
- Equal opportunity employment officials take new aim at pregnancy bias.
Education
