Postal Workers to begin bargaining, challenge Staples-Office Depot merger

The Postal Workers face a struggle on two fronts: Upcoming bargaining versus the Postal Service’s new management and battling a planned monopoly in office products and supplies after Staples announced it plans to take over Office Depot.

But in essence, the two fronts are linked. That’s because the former Postmaster General’s scheme to cut costs at USPS included transferring many Postal Workers’ tasks to ersatz postal stations at Staples stores – stations manned by minimum-wage, no-benefit, non-union part-timers, not well-paid, well-trained unionized workers.

The more immediate front is bargaining, which begins Feb. 19, said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. His union’s 200,000 members are already revving up their campaign for public support against the USPS and its further cost-cutting plans.

 “Negotiations are always contentious, and this year will be no exception,” he warned. “The Postal Service’s manufactured financial crisis is being used to justify an all-out assault on postal workers, on service to the people, and on the USPS as a great public institution.

“Our goal is to win a contract that protects good, stable jobs and guarantees the American people their constitutional right to have good postal services, regardless of who they are, where they live, or how much money they have.”

A contract win may not be easy. In past years, both big postal unions – the Postal Workers and the Letter Carriers – have at times had their contract terms set by supposedly impartial arbitrators after the two sides could not agree on pacts. 

This time, Dimondstein plans to have his members out in the streets, in addition to the “inside baseball” of the talks themselves.

“To be victorious, we will have to conduct our fight very differently than we have in the past,” he said. To succeed in bargaining, “We must win support from the people of the country for our goals – good, stable postal jobs and a strong Postal Service that belongs to them.

“To summarize our message as we reach out to the public, we adopted a theme: ‘Our Postal Service – Yesterday, Today, Forever. A Public Trust. A National Treasure.’

The Staples fight will involve APWU carrying its anti-monopoly campaign to the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. Both agencies must approve Staples’ takeover of Home Depot and, if needed, attach conditions to reduce its monopoly impact. The agencies rejected Staples’ last takeover bid, 17 years ago.

For APWU, that monopoly is unquestioned, and, given USPS’ past use of Staples as a replacement for Postal Service offices, a threat to well-paying middle-class postal jobs, many held by women, veterans and minority-group members. That will lead the union and allies it plans to recruit among labor and civil rights groups to Capitol Hill, too, Dimondstein said.

“A Staples takeover of Office Depot would lead to higher prices for consumers and closings that would affect employees and customers alike,” he added. And Staples replaced highly trained USPS workers with its own unskilled, low-wage employees. Concurrently, the USPS reduced hours in some post offices and encouraged customers to use Staples stores instead, the union adds.

APWU fought for and won texts of USPS documents showing its plan to transfer work to Staples to reduce postal jobs and service in neighborhood post offices. “The transfer of living-wage jobs to low-wage, poverty-level jobs is not in the public interest,” said Dimondstein.  “Staples is an anti-worker corporation, and we don’t want to see its reach expanded. We will vigorously oppose this merger. It’s bad for workers and bad for consumers.”