Army May Be Used To Deliver U.S. Mail

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32253, 23 March 1970, Page 17

Army May Be Used To Deliver U.S. Mail

f N Z. P A. -Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, March 22. President Nixon today considered whether to call in troops to deliver the mail as America’s first postal strike spread across the country.

At a press conference yesterday, the President said that on Monday “I will meet my constitutional obligations to see that the mails go through." He would not say whether that meant the use of troops but said he had the “means to deliver the mail.” As he spoke it became evident that the strikers were overwhelmingly rejecting an agreement made by trade

union leaders in Washington; on Friday that would have brought them back to work for five days while negotiations went on over their claim for more pay. There were reports that senior officers of the army reserve and the National Guard met top military men at the Defence Department but the reports could not be confirmed.

Both the guard and the Army reserve could be mobilise'’. by Presidential decree. President Nixon has refused to allow large pay rises for postal employees unless tied to a general reorganisation of the deficit-ridden postal system. The reorganisation, which includes the creation of a semi-public corporation to run the mails, is opposed by most of the Post Office workers’ unions.