Postal unions held rallies around the country in March amid fears for the future of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
As president-elect, Donald Trump said in December that privatizing USPS was an idea he’d consider. Then on Feb. 24 Trump said he may put USPS under the control of the U.S. Commerce Department. On March 5, his Department of Government Efficiency advisor Elon Musk suggested publicly that USPS should be privatized.
USPS used to be a federal agency, but in 1970 it was made an independent self-financing public corporation led by a postmaster general and a board of governors appointed by the president.
In response to the talk of privatization, American Postal Workers Union organized a nationwide day of action March 20 around the slogan “The U.S. Mail is Not for Sale,” with actions held in more than 300 cities, the union said.
“A threat against the post office is a threat against democracy,” said National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 82 President David Norton at APWU’s March 20 rally outside a Southeast Portland post office.
APWU represents over 200,000 clerks, maintenance workers, and motor vehicle and support workers at USPS.
NALC, which represents over 200,000 city letter carriers, followed with nationwide rallies March 23 around the slogans “Fight like Hell” and “Hell No to Dismantling the Postal Service.” Actions included a Portland rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
“Before there was a president, before the Gulf of America, before Space Force, before campaign lies were printed like postage, there was the post office,” said NALC steward Michael Magarro at the March 23 Portland rally. Magarro is a letter carrier at the Creston post office.
Seven out of eight members of Oregon’s congressional delegation have committed to protecting the postal service. Representative Cliff Bentz is the only member of Oregon’s House delegation who has not sponsored House Resolution 70, which demands Congress keep the postal service out of private control.
JUMPING SHIP Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, announced in February that he planned to resign, and stepped down March 24.
