Postal Workers, Others Protest Staples

As part of a wave of actions against the nation’s largest stationary store chain, members of the American Postal Workers Union and other labor officials and supporters held a rally on Fort Eddy Road in Concord on April 24, protesting a pilot program between Staples and the U.S. Postal Service.

The pilot program has Staples using its existing employees, who are not unionized, to sell postal service offerings. Currently, more than 80 stores are experimenting with the pilot program in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

The union represents about half the workers of the USPS. Most make around $50,000 annually, according to published reports. Staples employees, according to the union, “earn about $18,000 per year.” 

The USPS believes that the model, which would be similar to UPS Stores or FedEx/Kinko’s locations, will lower costs and expand business. The union fears that that an expansion of the program to all Staples locations, around 1,500, which would mean the elimination of thousands of union workers.

In a statement, Dana Coletti, the president of the Local, said the pilot program raised “many concerns about privacy and identity theft” adding that current Staples employees “receive minimal training” and the company’s low pay “results in high employee turnover.”

Officials also worried about reports that Staples was considering closing more than 200 stores by next year. A store in Hooksett already closed a few months ago, union officials noted.

The local visibility, organized by the Manchester Local, #230, had more than 100 people in attendance, and according to officials, one of the better turnouts, so far. More than 50 stores were targeted today in 27 different states.

Joining the workers were members of the National Association of Postal Carriers, the National Postal Mailhandlers Union, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, and members of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, which supported the action.