A pilot program to create mini post offices at Staples
stores is bad for workers.
You know what America
needs? More jobs, that’s what.
Not Walmart-style
“jobettes,” but real jobs. We need more stable employment with a good salary
and benefits, union jobs so workers have a say in what goes on, and jobs that
have strong protections against discrimination.
This country needs
more jobs that help launch workers into a career, in which you do useful work,
take pride in it, earn promotions, and are respected for what you do.
Believe it or not,
there’s at least one place where such jobs still exist. But — and you really
aren’t going to believe this — those in charge are pushing like hell to
eliminate them, turning positions that ought to be a model for American job
growth into just another bunch of jobettes.
The place? Your local
post office.
Hello — postal
workers, facilities, and services are what make the post office iconic and give
it such potential for even greater public use.
Their latest ploy is a
“partnership” with Staples, the office supply chain. In a pilot program, 82
Staples big-box stores opened “postal units”
to sell the most popular (and most profitable) mail products.
Rather than being
staffed by well-trained and knowledgeable postal workers, however, the mini
post offices will have an ever-changing crew of Staples’ low-wage, temporary
sales clerks with weak performance standards and no public accountability.
Cheapening postal work
might be good for a few profiteers like Staples, but it will diminish postal
service — and it’s exactly the wrong direction for America to be going. For
info and action go to www.apwu.org.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org
