Resolution on Solidarity with Postal Workers

February 18, 2021

Resolution on Solidarity with Postal Workers

PASSED FEBRUARY 17, 2021

WHEREAS, United States Postal Service employees are part of the critical infrastructure workforce that has higher exposure rates to COVID-19 and as a demographic group has been adversely affected by the pandemic; and

WHEREAS, as of February 9th, 2021, 242 postal employees during the last two-week period in Seattle District and 32 out of 160 workers at a western Washington Mail Processing facility have tested positive for COVID-19 plus an additional number are off work in quarantine status; and

WHEREAS, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends to include United States Postal Service workers in Phase 1b of COVID- 19 Vaccine distribution; and

WHEREAS, Washington State has more than 12,000 active City and Rural Letter Carriers, Postal Clerks, Mail Handlers and Postal Management ensuring delivery of mail and parcels to every address in Washington state, therefore coming in direct contact with the public;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Martin Luther King County Labor Council calls on Washington Governor Jay Robert Inslee to follow the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation, to include United States Postal Service employees in Phase 1b – Tiers 2 and 4 of COVID- 19 Vaccine distribution in order to provide the opportunity to voluntarily receive the COVID-19 vaccine; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Martin Luther King County Labor Council calls on the local management of the United States Postal Service and Washington State Departments of Health to develop a coordinated vaccine distribution effort at Washington State Postal Service Stations to provide the opportunity to voluntarily receive the vaccine; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution be forwarded to Washington Governor Jay Robert Inslee, the Western Area Vice President Gregory Graves for the United States Postal Service, and the Washington State Labor Council for consideration.