By The PA. AFL-CIO

– In a major blow to the Postal Service’s privatization deal with Staples, Region 5 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint charging the USPS with illegally subcontracted work to the office-supply chain and ordering the agency to return the work that existed on July 31, 2014, to the American Postal Worker Union bargaining unit. A hearing is scheduled before the NLRB Administrative Law Judge on August 17.

If the NLRB sustains the allegations in the complaint, it could effectively end Staple’s foray into the mail business.

“In the meantime, the boycott of Staples and its online subsidiary, Quill.com, is still on,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein declared. “Let’s turn up the heat!”

Dimondstein described the ruling as an important first step in the battle against privatization. “But it is not simply the result of strong legal arguments,” he said. “Every APWU member and supporter who passed out flyers outside Staples stores can claim a piece of this achievement,” he said. “Every person who organized their friends and neighbors to boycott Staples and warned them about the dangers of allowing a private company to take over the mail helped us get to this point.”

President Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Snyder welcomed the good news and joined in urging all of our unions and supporters to continue the boycott of Staples and Quill.com. The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO has supported the boycott since the union began it in April 2014. The entire Labor movement, including the AFL-CIO, our affiliates and friends, including the NEA, are united in ending these attacks on our Postal Service and the good, family-sustaining jobs of the workers who deliver our mail to every home and business in the nation reliably and securely. We urge all consumers: Don’t Buy Staples!

Source – http://www.paaflcio.org/?p=6156