Staples President Slams U.S. Postal Service Workers
Letter Carrier, Activist and Blogger
Shira Goodman, North American Commercial president for Staples, couldn’t hide her contempt for postal workers when she spoke to hundreds of Staples employees in her first ever town hall style meeting. Ms. Goodman chastised postal workers with several disparaging remarks including: “It must be nice to have a job for life” then adding”those days are over. This country can’t afford to do business as usual”. In her world, Staples workers are nothing more than temporary workers always at risk of having their jobs abolished.
It comes as no surprise that Shira Goodman was on the “Jobs and Economy” Steering Committee during Mitt Romney’s transition to Massachusetts Governor in 1992. Judging by her attitude towards workers, there is no doubt she buys into Romney’s hateful 47% comment made during his presidential run.
It’s also hardly shocking that Shira Goodman’s job before joining Staples in 1992 was being a manager for Bain and Company (1986-1992). Staples was one of her clients. Bain was the leader in outsourcing workers' jobs for management profit. She must feel quite comfortable in outsourcing postal jobs to her transient work force.
The negative ramifications are already being felt by postal workers. In the San Francisco area, the USPS has announced it is reducing customer service hours in 21 of the 39 post offices. “They’re shutting the doors at 5 p.m. and posting signs sending people to private locations – including Staples – to conduct postal business,” said Geoffray Dumaguit, president of the San Francisco local of the American Postal Workers Union. “This will inconvenience and irritate our customers, who often need to visit a post office after work.”
Shira Goodman must also feel quite comfortable in knowing her husband Senior Rabbi Wesley Gardenswartz seems to have pretty close to a “job for life” at Temple Emmanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. I certainly am not anything close to a theologian but “people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones ” is a popular twist on a biblical proverb that I am sure Shira Goodman knows of. Considering her situation, it seems the height of hypocrisy to be attacking the hard-working employees of the worlds best postal service.
I am sure the Bible has plenty of verses about the evil of greed practiced by Bain Capital and Staples as well as many on the virtuousness of treating people with respect and dignity as is practiced by labor unions throughout this country.
The AFL-CIO has announced it has endorsed the APWU national boycott of Staples . This boycott includes all Staples retail stores in the United States, Staples.com, Staples Advantage, as well as branded proprietary products.
Respecting workers and not exploiting them is not “business as usual” in Shira Goodman’s world. We as postal union members “can’t afford” to let this anti-worker sentiment go unchallenged. Staples outsourcing postal service jobs is the current battle in a national war on workers and Shira Goodman is leading the forces. Mitt Romney must be so proud.
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This has been reposted from NH Labor News.
