The American Postal Workers Union and its supporters plan to protest at Staples stores in Boston and Saugus today against what they call the outsourcing of postal work to a troubled retailer.

The U.S. Postal Service and Staples launched a pilot program last October to allow 82 stores in Worcester, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, San Diego and San Francisco to sell the most popular postal products and services.

“The major concern is the U.S. Postal Service belongs to the people of this country, and what it’s doing with Staples is a form of privatization where profit motive comes into play, which ultimately leads to higher costs for the consumer and less service,” said Rich Shelley, an APWU member and organizer of the Staples campaign.

“This is also the transfer of living-wage jobs at the postal service to low-wage jobs at a retailer to save money.”

The protests come as the Framingham-based retail-chain, which in March announced plans to close 225 North American stores by the end of 2015, is scheduled to release its second-quarter results.

In an email, Staples spokeswoman Carrie McElwee said the chain decided to discontinue its pilot program with the postal service.

But Staples is still offering USPS services in addition to other carriers such as FedEx, according to Darleen Reid-DeMeo, a USPS spokeswoman.

“It’s good for us because we get to compete in the marketplace still,” said Reid-DeMeo. “This is not meant to close or privatize the postal service. We’ve never laid off employees. It’s going to generate more mailing.”

via Postal union wants to stamp out Staples’ mail services | Boston Herald.