On Thursday, members of the American Postal Workers Union held demonstrations at several Staples locations in 27 states to protest a partnership between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples Inc.

According to the Los Angeles Times, USPS and the office supply chain announced last November that they developed a pilot program where 82 quick-service postal counters would be implemented at Staples stores around the nation and ran by Staples employees.

Under the program, 32 Staples stores in California are expected to have the postal counters added. None are planned for any Los Angeles location, but union members have organized four protests in the state with one of them being at a downtown Los Angeles store.

Staples stores with the postal counters would offer basic shipping services, the Times reported.

Postal Service officials claim the program will not lead to the privatization of post office jobs, but union heads, such as Mike Evans, the union's California president, disagree. 

"[It is] taking away good, stable jobs and replacing them with low-wage, high-turnover jobs," Evans said in a statement. "That's bad for postal workers, and it's bad for our communities."

Evans also cited possible issues with employee training in regards to privacy laws and identity theft. He said Staples employees don't go through the same training or sweat the same oath to protect the mail as postal workers do.

"Stapes employees receive minimal training. With all the concern about privacy and identity theft, that's just not the right way to handle the U.S. mail," Evans said. "Highly trained, experienced postal employees, who swear an oath to protect your letters and packages and who are accountable to the American people, should handle mail. This program is compromising service to our customers."

Postal Service spokesman Richard Maher said the partnership is just a good business strategy to reach out to more customers and argued that there are no plans to privatize the post office.

"Partnerships like this are not new and are all about growing our business," Maher said. "The unions' privatization issue is a ruse. We have no interest in privatizing the Postal Service."