Ricin Update

Postal officials have assured APWU President Cliff Guffey that they will update union officials today, April 17, about incidents involving mail that tested positive for ricin, a deadly poison, in preliminary tests on April 16.

Additional tests will be performed on two letters that tested positive for ricin in tests at the sorting facility. One letter was addressed to President Obama; another was addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).

The APWU complained that union officials and postal workers learned of the incident through media reports and that information was not provided to the union until many hours later.

Although management Stand-Up Talks given to employees say, “We have no reason to believe that any Postal employees are at risk from handling the suspect letter as it passed through the mail stream from Memphis, Tennessee to Washington, D.C.,” the scientific basis for that assertion is unclear, Guffey said. The talks were given in Southern Maryland, the V Street facility in Washington DC where government mail is handled, and in Memphis TN, where the letter to Sen. Wicker was postmarked. (Mail from northern Mississippi is processed in Memphis.)

“The safety of postal workers must be management’s first concern in an incident like this,” Guffey said. “Postal workers have a right to be informed immediately and to have the assistance of their union immediately to make sure that everything is being done that can be done to protect their safety.”