Don’t privatize U.S. mail service

The Hawkeye Labor Council AFL-CIO members, friends, family members and colleagues are not patronizing Staples, and we have voted to boycott the office supply giant.

Along with members of the American Postal Workers Union, we have concerns about a no-bid, sweetheart deal between Staples and the U.S. Postal Service that allows the retailer to operate postal counters inside its stores.

The American people have a right to public post offices that are staffed by highly trained postal employees who have taken an oath. Unless the Staples deal is stopped, it's only a matter of time before neighborhood post offices shut their doors entirely. The Staples deal will replace good, living-wage jobs with low-wage positions, and public post offices will be replaced with private, for-profit companies.

Staples has announced plans to close 225 stores by the end of 2015. What would happen if customers start getting their mail service from Staples instead of the post office and then Staples closes the store or goes out of business entirely? Special interests that look forward to getting their hands on public money often tout the benefits of privatizing public services. But in fact it's rarely a good value, and often comes with higher prices and lower service standards.

The U.S. mail is not for sale. Until Staples stops trying to impose its low-wage business model on an essential public service, the members of the labor council intend to take our business elsewhere.

Rick Moyle

Executive Director,

Hawkeye Labor Council AFL-CIO

Cedar Rapids