UE members joined rallies hosted by the National Association of Letter Carriers on Sunday, March 23 to say “Hell No!” to dismantling or privatizing the Postal Service.
The Postal Service employs 640,000 workers, 73,000 of whom are veterans. It is enshrined in the Constitution, making any effort to dismantle it by executive order not only illegal but unconstitutional. Despite this, NALC has obtained reports indicating that President Trump is preparing an executive order that would place the Postal Service — an independent and self-funding agency — directly under the control of the Commerce Department, preparing the way to destroy or sell off what polls repeatedly show is the most trusted government service in the U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy, a Trump appointee, has also signed an agreement with billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” which threatens to wreak the same havoc on the Postal Service that has been caused by Musk’s edicts elsewhere in the federal government.
NALC speakers at the Pittsburgh rally pointed out that the Postal Service serves every American at the same rate, and that many Americans, especially older Americans, rely on it not only for mail but for checks and medicines. If it is privatized or dismantled, people in many places — especially the 51.5 million households and businesses in rural communities where private services do not currently deliver — will either lose service altogether or be forced to pay exorbitant costs.
UE members at the Pittsburgh rally. Left to right: UE Local 696 Vice President Nina Mulroy, Eastern Region President George Waksmunski, retired UE NEWS Editor Al Hart, and Westmoreland County Labor Council President Michael Hartung. Hartung is a former member of UE Local 610. Members of Local 613 and the UE national office staff also attended the Pittsburgh rally.