Stop the Outsourcing of Mail Delivery!

Beaverton Postmaster John Lee has just notified the letter carriers union that mail delivery to a new 374 unit housing development near Bethany Boulevard will be outsourced to the lowest bidder, a private contractor instead of USPS letter carriers.

This private contractor would be paid less than half a regular letter carriers salary, have no benefits or union protection, no uniform and would case mail inside the post office, then deliver in their own vehicle.  They would hire their own substitute for days off.

Private letter carriers that are low-paid, no-benefit, and non-union will provide less service and less security for USPS customers.

This isn't just a local problem.  Outsourcing of new deliveries is happening all over the country.  New buildings, auxiliary routes, and vacant routes have been outsourced in the past few months.  The USPS national union-management contract negotiations have not settled this major issue because the Postal Board of Governors is pushing this privatization and outsourcing of letter carrier work.  The Board of Governors are appointed by the President of the United States.  Even though USPS management may not like outsourcing, they have to obey the Board of Directors.

The USPS union, the NALC, is fighting back on the national and local level but this battle needs the help of the community, the customers of the USPS, to demand that letter delivery stays in the unionized hands of the USPS.