Statement by Clint Burelson, President, Olympia WA Local, American Postal Workers Union

The Olympia Local of the American Postal Workers Union will hold an all day informational picket on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at the Olympia Post Office to protest the Postal Service’s plans to consolidate facilities and reduce mail service to the public. The Olympia action is part of a nationwide informational picket by the American Postal Workers Union. Postal workers in cities across the United States will be informing the public about consolidation plans that will reduce service to their communities.

The Olympia outgoing mail has already been consolidated to Tacoma. It is worth noting that the Tacoma Plant cannot handle the extra Olympia mail. The Tacoma Plant is using overtime and often sending Tacoma mail to Seattle in order to handle the Olympia mail. In essence, Olympia mail is being worked in Tacoma and Tacoma mail is being worked in Seattle. The consolidation of the Olympia mail to Tacoma has increased costs and reduced mail service for the average citizen.

However, all too often, the Postal Service no longer acts in the interest of the average citizen. Similar to other government agencies, the Postal Service increasingly acts in the interest of large corporations who have been successful in electing and influencing government officials with large amounts of money. The power of large corporations over the Postal Service is illustrated by the fact that James C. Miller III, a long time advocate for the privatization of the Postal Service, is now the current chair of the Board of Governors for the Postal Service. The governing head of the Postal Service is someone who does not believe the Postal Service should be a democratic institution.

In the case of the Postal Service, the corporate influence has the added element of media power. Time Warner, the Newspaper Association of America, and other large corporate media interests are big customers of the Postal Service and have been actively supporting consolidation and other plans in their self-interest, which often comes at the expense of the general public.

It is difficult for postal workers and other advocates for a democratic postal service to get their views articulated when most of the media is corporate owned and in support of a corporate oriented postal service. Therefore, postal workers will utilize picket signs on Thursday, October 26, as one method of informing the public that unwarranted consolidations will reduce mail service and increase costs for the average citizen in the country.

For more information contact: Clint Burelson - clintburelson@comcast.net or 360-970-2965

From WKYC Cleveland: 

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 ”Attempted Unknown” is a weekly video podcast hosted by Tim, a mail carrier for the US Postal Service. Each week Tim brings us his unique ideas, stories and photos from his mail route, found objects, and documentary subjects.

You never know when someone with a video camera might be watching…

From WGBH in Boston, a nice story about a window clerk who really loves her job. It’s from ‘GBH’s Morning Stories series of podcasts. You can double click the player below to listen online, or click here to download the .mp3 file. Visit the Morning Stories web site to subscribe to the series.

The tension between old and new media played itself out last week in the newsroom of the Canton Repository, as it sought to cover developments in the murder of letter carrier Jennifer Milburn:

By Friday morning, when we gathered to critique the day’s paper and plan Saturday’s, a group of people in the newsroom were speaking uncharitably about our Web site. These earnest colleagues were complaining that we had given the story to Cleveland television and all other competitors by putting it on the Web. We had invited competitors to come and report the story that no one knew as well as we did for those several hours on Thursday.

Rep’s aim is to inform you quickly, on paper or online

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Check out the new look at Tom Wakefield’s postalmag.com. The site has been redesigned and expanded, with added features like videos and a photo gallery. Tom calls the new look “PostalMag 2.0“.