Why postal workers strike

The workers argued for increased salary and retirement benefits, among other things. The effects of the strike were far reaching. At the time of the strike the postal service handled approximately million pieces of mail daily. Everything from personal letters to draft notices were sent through the mail. One side effect of the strike and the inability of the New York draft board to mail out notices was that approximately 9, New York men had a temporary reprieve from the draft.

Another government branch was about to run into problems as well. The nation's census questionnaires were scheduled to be mailed out. In an effort to get the mail moving again, President Nixon called in the National Guard to help process mail in many major city post offices. Burrus: We had been engaged, postal employees had been engaged, particularly in congress for a number of years dealing with the adequate wages—that was our number one priority, and congress being what it is, it had its agenda, including a number of priorities and postal was just one of them.

We were government employed, we did not pose a threat, we did not rise above the other governmental priorities—that is, building roads, and hospitals, and education, security, all of those are responsibilities of the government.

The work was physically demanding, and even experienced employees had no idea how many hours they would work. They waited in break rooms for long periods, hoping to be called for a few hours of delivering the mail.

By , their turnover rate was 23 percent. Post Office workers on strike at Tenafly, Tensions boiled over when Congress proposed raising their own salaries by 41 percent in early —but only offered postal employees a 5. Furious letter carriers in New York called a meeting of the local branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers union on March 17, to demand a strike.

But the union refused to strike. Union leaders agreed there were legitimate problems, but pointed out that it was illegal for federal workers to strike. It still is.

Members took a vote. It was close—1, for a strike, 1, against. However, a group of pro-strike workers led by Vincent Sombrotto defied their union and decided to stop work the next morning. But they had many supporters elsewhere: other discontented letter carriers from coast to coast. In a statement to media outlets on Friday, StarTrack said less than one-third of its workforce had voted to support the strike action and its best and final pay offer was of a guaranteed pay rise of 9 per cent over three years.

Sign up here. StarTrack postal workers vote in favour of strike action: union. Please try again later. Mexico War Tea Party. By Alan J. How a teacher and his students organized a tour of the hidden history of slavery in New York. By Thom Thacker and Michael A. An art contest is used as the basis from which students can examine primary historical documents advertisements for runaway slaves to gain a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery in the North.

Lesson by Bill Bigelow and student reading by Howard Zinn. Interactive activity introduces students to the history and often untold story of the U. Roles available in Spanish.

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