boycott

VICTORY: Postal Service Workers Win Against Staples Privatization

After Years of Protest and Boycott by APWU and Allies, the Deal Between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples to Sell Postal Services Ends

via the AFL-CIOThe U.S. Postal Service announced in a letter to the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) that the deal between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples has ended. Staples will be removing all signage and will discontinue postal services at the national retailer’s roughly 500 U.S. locations that handle postal services by the first week of March 2017. In response, APWU is calling off the boycott of Staples effective immediately and will notify its many supporters and allies.This is a big win for the public, as well as the 200,000 members of APWU and the union’s allies who waged a national campaign, Stop Staples, against the office-supply chain and a battle against the USPS over the Postal Service’s partnership with the national office supply retailer. Three years ago, the union challenged the USPS’ scheme of privatizing postal retail operations and shifting postal services from neighborhood post offices to Staples locations. The union contended that this privatization effort undermined the public’s right to good quality and secure postal services and represented a shift of good living wage positions to low-wage jobs, thereby hurting the well-being of the communities where the union’s members lived.Image via the Los Angeles TimesAPWU’s members strongly believed that this plan would diminish the USPS brand by having mail processed in unsecured locations by workers who had little or no training in protecting the privacy and sanctity of the mail, as well as ineffectively serving the customers with the broad array of postal products and services.“The public Postal Service is a national treasure that was treated like a cheap trinket by the former Postmaster General,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “First, former Postmaster General [Patrick] Donahoe cut a dirty deal to set up post offices staffed by Staples employees in 82 Staples stores. Then they downgraded the offerings to the ‘Approved Shipper’ status in hopes of ending the protests, but expanded nationally. In each case, the security and the sanctity of the mail, the training of clerks, and proper oversight were tossed out the window. This was bad for the consumer, bad for the USPS brand and an insult to our dedicated members.”Staples and USPS announced in late 2013 that they would launch a pilot program operating mini post offices in the company’s retail outlets. The initial test markets were the San Francisco Bay Area, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and the Boston suburbs.Beginning in 2014, the APWU held protests, rallies and other demonstrations outside Staples retail locations and the Staples headquarters with crowds that at times numbered in the thousands, proclaiming “The U.S. Mail Is Not For Sale!” APWU members from across the nation joined the campaign and participated in street protests and leafleting efforts to educate customers about the dangers of privatized postal services, which would result in the decline of service to the postal customers.The union organized a national boycott of Staples stores that was joined by other labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the Laborers-National Postal Mail Handlers Union (LIUNA-NPMHU), the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Service Employees International Union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers and, perhaps most importantly, the nation’s two largest teachers unions, the AFT and the National Education Association. A significant portion of Staples revenues is generated by the sale of school supplies.Following the AFT’s convention in July 2014, where the union’s leadership announced that it would ask its 1.6 million members, colleagues and family members to boycott the chain and buy school supplies elsewhere, Staples and USPS announced that they were ending the mini post office idea and would handle postal services through the already existing “Approved Shipper” program. APWU at the time called this “a ruse.” Dimondstein, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal stated that, "this attempt at trickery shows that the 'Don't Buy Staples' movement is having an effect. We intend to keep up the pressure until Staples gets out of the mail business."APWU and its allies maintained the boycott and continued protests outside Staples stores across the country, expanding protest activity beyond the pilot program locations.In February 2015, Staples announced its planned $5.5 billion merger with Office Depot. APWU became the largest public opponent of the merger. The union released two white papers critical of the Staples/Office Depot proposal and met with the Federal Trade Commission staff examining the merger. The FTC eventually blocked the merger.The union also prevailed on a number of cases before the National Labor Relations Board, adding more pressure against the USPS/Staples deal.“This is a big win,” said Dimondstein. “Staples is out of the mail business, which they should never have gotten into. Our members take great pride in their training and their responsibilities; they swear an oath; they perform a public service. The quality of service at a Staples store isn’t comparable. The public should have confidence in the mail. Important letters, packages and business correspondences shouldn’t be handled like a ream of blank paper.”“This is also a win for those who care about the neighborhood post office,” he continued, “and for all those in our society who think that workers should earn a fair living wage with decent health care and a pension, rather than the Staples model of minimum wage, part-time hours and no benefits.”The American Postal Workers Union represents 200,000 employees of the United States Postal Service, and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. For more information on APWU, visit www.apwu.org.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers Come to Boston!

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a worker-led human rights organization internationally recognized for its achievements in the fields of social responsibility, human trafficking, and gender-based violence at work. The CIW's membership is comprised primarily of farmworkers who labor in the tomato fields in Immokalee, Florida.
The CIW has called a boycott against Wendy's for their continued disregard of farmworkers' human rights. Unlike all the other major fast food companies, Wendy's refuses to join the CIW's Fair Food Program, which increases farmworkers' wages and improves workplace safety.

We are excited to invite you to learn from and take action with CIW members!
On Saturday, October 22, CIW members will be speaking at two Boston synagogues:
  • 12 noon at Temple Hillel B'nai Torah, 120 Corey St, West Roxbury
  • 4-5:30 PM at Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue, 43 Lochstead Ave, Jamaica Plain
 On Sunday, October 23, join CIW members and their supporters for a Boycott Wendy's rally:
  • 2-3:30PM at the Downtown Crossing Wendy's, (71 Summer St, Boston)
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Read more about the CIW and its boycott of Wendy's here:

Boycott the Harvard-owned Allston DoubleTree Hotel

Barbara at DoubleTree March 27 14On Thursday, March 27th a boycott was launched at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Hotel in Allston. The New England Jewish Labor Committee is supporting this worker-intiated boycott of the DoubleTree. We are supporting  hotel workers who have asked Harvard to grant them a fair process in deciding on unionization. Harvard has thus far refused to meet with hotel workers. A boycott is a serious step for the DoubleTree workers because it could mean fewer hours for them.More than 200 people came to the march and rally at the DoubleTree to show their support. There were DoubleTree workers, New England Jewish Labor Committee members, UNITE HERE members from other hotels, union leaders, Harvard students, Cambridge City Council members, and others who came to show their support for the workers.We ask all Jewish community organizations and individuals to observe this boycott and have their events and celebrations in other hotels. For a guide to hotels in Boston, click here.

UNITE HERE and Hyatt Hotels Reach National Agreement; Boycott Continues at Boston Hyatts

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UNITE HERE has reached a national agreement with Hyatt Hotels. This is a huge step forward.However, although UNITE HERE has reached a national agreement with Hyatt Hotels, there are still many issues to resolve, including attaining justice for the Hyatt workers in Boston. The boycott will continue for the three Hyatt Hotels in Boston: Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside.The national agreement will go into effect upon the ratification of the Hyatt union contracts in San Francisco, Hawaii, Chicago, and Los Angeles.  Pending worker approval, those contracts will be in line with the city standards and include substantial wage increases, quality health and pension benefits, and job security.  The agreement establishes a process for Hyatt workers at a number of hotels to gain union representation through a fair process, and creates a framework for an ongoing relationship between UNITE HERE and Hyatt.Pending associate approval, the contracts will provide retroactive wage increases and maintain quality health care and pension benefits. The proposed new contracts would cover associates into 2018. - See HERE for more.The work of the New England Jewish Labor Committee has been an essential part of achieving this agreement.  It has been almost four years that we have been supporting the workers at Hyatt Hotels and we are happy to have made a significant difference on this campaign.We need to remember that it has been the thousands of courageous acts of the workers and their allies that have pressured Hyatt to come to this initial agreement.We in the Jewish community in Boston have to continue our support until the Hyatt workers here in Boston secure decent wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and respect on the job.Sadly that is not yet the case. An agreement will also need to be worked out about the Hyatt 100 who lost their jobs almost four years ago.The national agreement with Hyatt makes achieving justice for the Boston Hyatt workers more possible than before. We will keep you posted as plans develop.WHAT YOU CAN DO1. Please observe the boycott of the three Boston Hyatts, (Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside).2. Please avoid boycotted hotels when you travel and preferably stay at union hotels. Click here to find out which hotels are boycotted hotels and which are union hotels.3. Please organize your synagogue, other Jewish institution or workplace to observe the boycott in Boston. If you want to a speaker on this topic or other assistance, please contact the New England Jewish Labor Committee: 617 227-0888 or  NewEnglandJLC@jewishlabor.org4. PLEASE observe socially responsible event planning. Make sure you have protective language concerning labor disputes in your hotel contract. Such protective language allows you to nullify the contract in case of a labor dispute without a penalty. Inmex is a non-profit organization that will help you figure out the details of securing such language in a hotel contract. There is not a cost for this service.Even though we have not yet gained justice for the Hyatt workers in Boston, this agreement warrants celebration. We want to congratulate and thank all our supporters. We particularly want to thank Rabbi Barbara Penzner, Chair of the New England Jewish Labor Committee Rabbinic Advisory Council, for her continued leadership on this issue. Her commitment has been unwavering. We want to thank the thousands of rabbis and Jewish community members who signed petitions, participated in the boycott, wrote letters, and came to rallies and protests.