Postal workers protest outsourcing
Two labor unions are planning pickets at 16 locations across Florida, including Jacksonville, to protest the U.S. Postal Service’s outsourcing policies.
Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association chose June 27 to demonstrate against the policies that the unions say will diminish service to postal customers and endanger the future viability of the Postal Service.
The pickets will be held outside post offices or in neighborhoods where mail is currently being delivered by non-postal employees, Judy Willoughby, NALC national business agent, said in a release.
Pickets will be at the main Jacksonville post office on Kings Road from 4 to 6 p.m.
NALC’s effort to fight privatization of mail delivery has gained support in Congress. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has introduced The Mail Delivery Protection Act of 2007 (S. 1457) to outlaw most outsourcing, and in the House of Representatives, Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J., has authored H. Res. 282, which would condemn the practice and urge the Postal Service to halt the practice immediately.
The NALC represents 298,000 active and retired letter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service in all 50 states and United States jurisdictions.
