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