Twelve people were arrested Thursday evening during an Occupy Portland protest to support the U.S. Postal Service, according to Portland police.
About 80 people gathered at the post office on Southwest 6th and Clay. They sounded off about a large-scale layoff announced by the postal service in February.
Press Release
Ten arrested in Occupy action at University Station post office
Portland, OR – Police arrested ten members of labor unions, faith groups, neighborhood organizations, and Occupy Portland who refused to leave the University Station post office at closing time this evening. Unfurling two ten foot banners, reading “Occupy the Post Office” and “No Closures! No Cuts!” the protesters blocked the closure of the retail window while a rally of over a hundred supporters chanted outside. Earlier a line of demonstrators had marched through the office, delivering postcards addressed to the Postmaster General.
“The Postmaster General’s plan to close processing plants, delay mail delivery, and cut hours in the nation’s post offices will not fix the postal service’s financial crisis,” said Jamie Partridge, an arrestee from Occupy Portland. “Congress manufactured the crisis and Congress or the President will fix it. If the PMG can’t wait, he should step down and allow in someone who will protect the postal service.”
“People from across Portland are coming out to show that we value our public services and we will not allow those services to be sabatoged by corporate interests. Today we defend the Post Offices, but we know that these public services – our Post Offices, our libraries, our parks, and even our schools are all the target of corporate interests profit-driven machines, says Laurie King, organizer with Occupy the Post Office. “We are coming out to say that all communities deserve access to the mail service, and we will not have it handed over to the highest bidder.”
The Postmaster General is poised to close half the nation’s mail processing plants, including Portland’s Main Office, while reducing hours from 25% to 75% at 13,900 post offices. Donahoe is also pushing for an end to door-to-door and Saturday delivery. Organizers say that the financial problems that USPS is experiencing is due to a funding mandate passed by Congress in 2006 that requires the USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance. This law was a product of ALEC and its Congressional members who focus on shrinking and privatizing public services. Community members are pressuring Congress to pass bills HR 3591 and S 1853 which will repeal the pre-funding mandate and protect the Postal Service.
“USPS is financially sound, the Congressional mandate to pre-pay benefits for 75 years is shackling the Post Office. This is clearly a part of Wall Street’s plan to privatize and destroy an honored institution of our community,” says Lataya Dailey, an organizer with Occupy St Johns. “The Postmaster is complicit in this plan to gut and cut our community Post Offices. We demand he resign immediately.”
OCCUPY 1300 L STREET NW, WASHINGTON DC! FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR DUES FUNDED APWU OFFICER RETIREMENT PLAN THAT YOU CAN’T USE AND THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT.
from what i understand, no one is being laid off. nor is anyone losing their job. sure, some people may lose their bid job and be re-located, but they will still have a job. be thankful, people.
JN, thinks Fox has news, watches it, oogles the short skirted news broadcasters and follows the parade with the stars and bars. Keep voting for rich republicans and find out what a facist oligarchy can do for you.
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fascism
[fash-iz-uhm] Origin
fas·cism
[fash-iz-uhm]
noun
1.
( sometimes initial capital letter ) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Collins
World English Dictionary
fascism (ˈfæʃɪzəm)
— n
1. any ideology or movement inspired by Italian Fascism, such as German National Socialism; any right-wing nationalist ideology or movement with an authoritarian and hierarchical structure that is fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism
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WO, you are a fraud and a complete idiot. Please become a statistic.
Thank you 1st cav for your service. If that asshole had his leg shot off, bleeding to death, the only thing he would want is a helo pilot to fly his butt out. Thank GOD for the troops, especially snipers and helo jockeys.
God bless our troops and veterans.
above a loser like the international marxist in the white house……oh by the way main stream media side stepped his wookie wife on why she was disbarred in Illinois for life. 20% unemployment and the ho has taken 18 vacations on taxpayer money. my estimation as to why she was disbarred….playing around with other peoples escrow money….typical demonrat.
you served under a piece of garbage pal in a pc gay militaryl……to stupid to fly a helicopter……in the rear with the gear and the beer, right punk! I have a DFC, what do you have?
WO you drugged out, vietnam era piece of crap. Sitting safe in a helicopter isn’t a real soldier( oooh they are shooting at me let me fly away) . The ground troops in south west asia are real soldiers. I am proud to have served for this great President of ours. 30% of Postal Workers are vets, if you can’t support vets you need to stop posting your unit. It’s lunch time go and get drunk with the rest of your VFW buddies and tell your racist jokes.
They don’t have their facts right. Whose getting laid off?
No entity in and of itself works well. You need a balance and for good or bad you need a counter in this case the unions. APWU, letters carriers, mail handlers etc.
Whether you like it or not without a counter organization you would never have made the amount of money you currently make or the benefits. I am a clerk and I have worked 16 years for the post office. I am now a non traditional regular making less than I have for years. I am still very grateful for the money I make. The unions are fighting the incorrect implementation of non traditional regulars and I am doing my part in filing everything I see. The irony is that the traditional regulars in our office are making many hours of O. T. and the non traditional regulars are mainly making 30 hours a week. Somehow the logic of the post office implementing 30 hour regulars was that little or no o.t. would be needed, this I have not seen instead the o.t. in our office is through the roof. This is a small office I work in multiply this exponentially and you can see why the usps is in such trouble. Our carriers are breaking down – the extra load with the machinable flats has about 1/3 of our carriers with really bad health issues- back problems, knee problems, carpal tunnel, you name it. The carriers falling apart in our office are on the younger side. I don’t see the end to this breaking down of postal workers – they are after all human not machines!
There are a few bitter people blogging here you are only hurting yourself!
Romney is sure to implement non union situations- as the Republicans are mainly for the wealthy getting wealthier and the middle class going down to the poor end of the spectrum. I as an individual am doing everything I can to downsize my life as is my family because if the Republicans get there way we will all be making minimum wage or less. Good luck to us all!
APWU bigwigs couldn’t make it…spending your $ at convention; sorry 🙁 But we did get President Goofy to turn down buyouts and hire more PSE’s; your welcome!
At least they managed to get more bodies there than the local APWU would’ve gotten.
save postal workers? where were these dummies when the United Auto Workers needed help? they were in the auto showrooms buying Honda’s, Nissans, & Toyota’s……Americans have moved on to E-Bill Pay and internet…….now its your turn to be kicked under the bus. self-serving po civil servents lead by a commie street thug-priceless!
hope for change Romney 2012
Keep up the good works, Portland! Every state need to stand up, not only to the postal service, but to congress as well! They are the ones who can make the difference in thousands of workers keeping their jobs and millions of americans continued mail service we are accustomed to! It won’t be a bailout, but money that’s owed back to the postal service for an overpayment into the Postal retirement pre-funded program that former President Bush and his cronies put on the Postal servicce! Let’s keep praying and fighting legally!