New York, NY – Widespread panic erupted last month as more than a dozen package bombs were sent to public figures critical of the Trump administration. These package bombs contained identical one by six-inch pieces of PVC pipe packed with shrapnel, pyrotechnic powder, a timer and a detonator. Thankfully, none of these packages exploded before being intercepted.

One dynamic is often left out of the public discussion however: ultimately, it is not the high-profile celebrity and politician targets who face the most significant risk, but the postal workers who keep our society running. Given the amount of time package bombs spend in transit, the most likely casualties of this style of violence are working-class people whose names and faces will never grace the screens of CNN or other major pundit networks.

The dangers that come with being a postal worker are far more significant than many people realize. In March 2018, for example, a mail bomb containing nails, metal scraps, and other pieces of shrapnel exploded while on the automatic conveyor belt at a FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas. The bombmaker, Mark Conditt, was later found to have posted anti-queer and pro-death penalty statuses on his social media and blogs. In May of that year, eight Teamsters were injured in an explosion at a UPS facility in Kentucky when hazardous acetylene gas leaked out of a trailer.

“A lot of folks in my building were nervous before they got the mail bomber last month,” said Bill Aiman, a Teamsters Local 79 package handler in Tampa, Florida. “You never know what's inside those boxes, it's like, could this package blow up and take me and all of my coworkers out?”

Hazardous conditions for workers who move packages or letters is by no means limited to right-wing attacks. Oftentimes companies like UPS will not follow the proper safety precautions to deal with leaking, potentially hazardous packages. When a worker encounters a leaking package on the conveyor belt, they immediately will need to shut the belt off. This will lead to supervisors harassing the employees to get the belt moving as soon as possible. Instead of treating a leaking package as a hazard, supervisors treat it as an inconvenience that cuts into production.

All in all, these lax safety standards, difficult working conditions, and right-wing threats make being a postal or package transport worker a dangerous job. When taken together, truck and delivery drivers have higher fatality rates than cops. At the end of the day, if those mail bombs had detonated, it most likely would have been workers who lost their lives.

#NewYorkNY #PeoplesStruggles #UPS #postalWorkers #mailBombs

Tampa, FL – Over 50 U.S. Postal Service workers and supporters participated in the national day of action here in Tampa, May 14. On May 20, the USPS union members' contract is set to expire. If the contract passes as is, American Postal Workers Union (APWU) members fear it will include more cuts to employee positions and take the only public postal service in the country and hand it to the private corporations.

Reggie Maddox a Tampa resident and USPS worker for over 18 years brought his two sons to the rally. “Our service is here for the people. This is the only postal service that doesn't demand a tax break. My job is threatening to be cut. And I just cannot sit back and accept that.”

According to Don Barron, executive vice president of the Tampa Area Local South Region, “Attacks to USPS are attacks to more than 550,000 employees who are set to be without a job by this Oct. 1. If the contract passes as-is, the APWU will push for arbitration.”

Organizing in two locations, the Tampa Local 259 APWU first rallied outside of the downtown Tampa Postal Office and then, after more than five hours, moved the rally to the Tampa International Postal Office. Workers at the local office joined the rally during their lunch breaks and some even joined before their work shifts.

Joji Wong, a USPS worker for more than 21 years, is a graveyard shift employee and was set to start her shift at 2:00 a.m. Holding a “I stand with postal workers,” sign and talking to USPS customers, Wong said “I'm here because the Postal Service is one of the greatest public services out there. To see the attacks against it and the big efforts to make it private are something I will continue organizing against!”

David Bernstein, president of the APWU Retiree Chapter says, “When you take the services we provide and replace them with a privately-owned service, you end up handing us all over to Wall Street. In the many years I worked with the Postal Services, and the many strikes I have seen and been a part of, I can tell you now that the younger generation needs to fight back against these attacks. Just like I did and just like I still am, even if I am retired.”

Michael Sullivan the South East business agent for APWU; Norwood Orwick, a Verizon worker and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); as well as Sol Márquez, a state of Florida employee and member of the local AFSCME 79 chapter, also in supported the national day of action.

#TampaFL #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #unions #PublicSectorUnions #postalWorkers #USPS

Jacksonville, FL – Protesters from the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition stood outside of a local Staples retail store, Feb. 8, demanding that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) stop using non-union labor at Staples. In order to cut costs, the Postal Service recently opened up mail centers at participating Staples stores around the nation as part of a test program. Instead of employing union postal workers with good pay and benefits, these new centers are staffed by underpaid, non-union retail workers.

“Union membership has been declining since the Reagan administration,” said Marina Djordjevic, lead organizer of the event. “If people do not voice immediate opposition, union busting will persist.”

Due to a 2006 decision by Congress, the U.S. Post Service was forced to make unprecedented yearly payments of almost $6 billion in healthcare costs for future retirees. That is, the U.S. Postal Service is prefunding retirement benefits and turning its surplus into a deficit.

U.S. Postal Service administration handled this artificial crisis predictably, by cutting over 200,000 postal jobs, closing down mail distribution centers and local post offices, and now contracting work out to non-union employers like Staples. The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is demanding that these new Staples mail centers be staffed with union postal workers and not minimum-wage retail workers.

“This is part of a move to shift work in this country to low paid part-time employees,” said Fernando Figueroa, member of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition. “Either the mail centers employ postal workers or we have to organize all Staples employees into a union of their own. The unions need to build towards a strike or their jobs are going to be privatized.”

Protesters waved signs that read “Save our service” and “Stop Staples union busting.” Drivers passing by on Beach Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in Jacksonville, honked their horns and gave thumbs up to show their support for union jobs.

If the pilot program goes well, the non-union mail centers are threatening to spread to the thousands of other Staples stores around the country. This is a major step towards privatizing the U.S. Postal Service.

#JacksonvilleFL #privatization #unionBusting #postalWorkers #JacksonvilleProgressiveCoalition #Staples

Winston-Salem, NC – On April 16, local residents and members of Occupy Winston-Salem held a demonstration at the U.S. Post Office in the Waughtown area. Protesters demanded that the only post office in the community not be closed down.

Across the country, hundreds of U.S. post offices are on a closure list, based upon the amount of revenue they generate. For the Waughtown area, which is known to be one of the most diverse, predominantly working class communities in Winston-Salem, the closure of the one and only post office would be a major setback.

Local passersby honked to express solidarity as they drove past, while others stopped and greeted protesters as they were coming and going from the post office during the day. Shouting could be heard from Pleasant Street to Waughtown Street: “U-S-P-S should not pay for Wall Street’s mess!” – a financial mess that postal workers are organizing against nationwide.

Amanda Porter-Cox of Occupy Winston-Salem spoke out against the closing, “If that post office is closed, it will impact the daily life of all those residents living in that area. Since it is located in a poorer part of town, it is particularly vulnerable. The other implication that will come up is that the 1% is taking over public services, making them private and taking rights away. We cannot allow this to happen.”

Justin Flores, organizer and Director of Programs for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), also joined the demonstration, angry about what the 1% are trying to force upon the residents of Waughtown. “While farm workers often lack basic human rights,” he said, “our union understands that only by sticking together will we be able to win against those who seek to put profits over people, so I was excited to be there with the good folks in Winston Salem in support of the postal workers and their union.”

Flores continues, “I think this type of work is not only crucial to build the power to push back the Republican efforts to end public mail service, but also to educate and organize our communities about the serious problems that come along with privatization and slashes to federal, state, and local budgets. Whether it is education, mail service or public safety, conservatives are looking for ways to turn everything into a for-profit business, which often fails to account for the importance of these services for many communities. Without good public mail service, the for-profit industry will have no reason to keep good, low cost service in many neighborhoods. Only by engaging our neighbors and families will we build enough political power to not only fight back against the threats to public services, but keep fighting to improve them.”

#WinstonSalemNC #TaxTheRich #postOffice #postalWorkers #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyWinstonSalem

Tampa, FL – 50 people rallied in support of union postal workers outside U.S. Representative Kathy Castor's office, Sept. 27. Local Postal Service workers, along with members of the Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), protested against the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. The Act is the cause of major debt and budget problems for the United States Postal Service. Congress, as a result, is pushing to stop all Saturday postal services. Saturday is the one day of the week that many working people can make it to the post office. If the Saturday postal service cuts happen, it will lead to layoffs and increase unemployment for postal workers.

Marisol Marquez of Tampa SDS stated, “Big business and the Republican Party in Congress are the ones attacking public services and the postal service, just like they are attacking public education. They claim the Postal Service is to blame for the budget problems, but the fact is they are setting them up to fail. The postal service was founded during the American Revolution and has never had a budget crisis up until now. The real problem is the rich and their puppets in Congress. They do not care about regular people.”

The protest brought together both workers and students. Statewide in Florida, students are fighting against massive budget cuts at their universities. SDS plans to protest against tuition hikes as high as 15% at universities across Florida, including a rally at the University of South Florida in Tampa on Oct. 4, at Cooper Hall. For both students and workers, the federal, state, and local budget crises are forcing them to fight back. The Sept. 27 rally ended with Representative Castor greeting the union workers outside and lending her support. She has signed on to help protect Saturday postal services and pledges to fight on workers’ behalf. Union workers and their allies, from Wisconsin to Florida, are becoming active in the fight back against budget cuts and privatization of social services, schools, and now, the U.S. postal service.

#TampaFL #postalWorkers #TampaBayStudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #PostalAccountabilityAndEnhancementActOf2006

Save the Public Postal Service

Resolution of Letter Carriers Union, Golden Gate Branch 214

Sept. 7, 2011

Whereas, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution as a right of the people, the public Post Office has provided universal postal service over many generations, and is continuously rated as the most highly regarded government entity by the American people. Since the 1970 postal strike, which shut down mail service nationwide for four days, postal workers have had good liveable-wage jobs supporting their families in every community, and collective bargaining through their unions; and

Whereas, Postmaster General Donahue wants to eliminate Saturday delivery, shut 3,700 postal facilities, and fire 120,000 workers [220,000 by 2015], despite a no-layoff clause in union contracts. Rep. Issa, chair of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, wants to void the postal union contracts altogether and open the door to privatization. Their proposals would sabotage and destroy our national treasure – the public Postal Service; and

Whereas, the scheduled service cutbacks will hit seniors, and poor and rural communities the hardest: For example, post offices are being tagged for closing based on the amount of “revenue” they generate, which means that low-income and rural areas, which need their neighborhood post office the most, will no longer have one. Also collection boxes with fewer letters are being removed, hurting service in low-income and rural areas; and

Whereas, just as Governor Scott Walker declared war on Wisconsin workers, what’s coming is a war against the 574,000 unionized postal workers and their families – the next target of the big business class and their henchmen in Congress and the media. Like Reagan’s attack on PATCO, this is an attack on all of Labor, and Labor needs to close ranks with every community now to defend the postal unions and save the public Postal Service.

Therefore be it Resolved, that Golden Gate Branch 214 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, calls on the four postal unions and each of their locals and state associations – as well as central labor bodies and state labor federations in every part of the country, other national and local unions, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win federation, and community allies – to organize a coordinated national and local campaign including mass demonstrations to defend the postal workers, save Saturday delivery, stop the post office closings and layoffs, and save the public Postal Service.

Resolution adopted by NALC Branch 214, at the regular membership meeting on September 7, 2011, in San Francisco, California, by unanimous vote.

#UnitedStates #privatization #postOffice #postalWorkers