INDEPENDENT NEWS

Post workers raise a stink over dung campaign

Published: Tue 15 Jul 2003 06:01 PM
Post workers raise a stink over dung campaign
Postal workers say that anyone wanting to make a political protest shouldn’t use them to do it.
“Cyanide, anthrax and now cow dung – postal workers have had to cope with them all in recent months,” said EPMU national secretary Andrew Little, who represents 5500 postal workers, including mail sorters.
“The fact is that if you send objectionable material through the mail, it’s the mail workers who are going to have to deal with it – not the people you address the parcel to.”
A rural newspaper has launched a Raise a Stink campaign encouraging farmers to send dung through the mail as a protest against a proposed “flatulence tax” aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
Mr Little said posting dung through the mail was an irresponsible and selfish reaction.
“We would be first to defend the farmers’ right to public protest, but putting other people’s health at risk is not the way to do it,” he said.
“Our members are now having to wear gloves to sort the mail and are at risk of catching diseases.”

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