WASHINGTON—From Portland, Ore., to Miami and from Chicago to D.C., tens of thousands of people rallied July 28 in a union-organized campaign to save the U.S. Postal Service by pressuring Congress to give it a temporary financial lifeline while keeping it out of the clutches of Wall Street and the billionaire class.
Organized by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the campaign drew both active unionists, retirees, families, and friends from postal unions, central labor councils, the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Communications Workers, AFSCME, and other unions.
“The U.S. Postal Service is not a business, it’s a service” to the people of the U.S. and should be treated that way, declared Nannette Corley, the longtime former president of APWU Local 3630 in Montgomery County, Md. “It’s a service for the community.”
Which is not how President Donald Trump, his corporate and financial backers, new Trump-named Postmaster General David Steiner—the former CEO of Waste Management—or the Trump nominees to the USPS governing board see it.
The USPS foes see billions of dollars in red ink, too many workers, too many post offices, too much service—including Saturday mail delivery—and too little opportunities for them to profit.
APWU, the Letter Carriers, the Postal Mail Handlers, and two smaller unions are additional targets for them. These unions represent the nation’s 600,000 USPS workers, most of whom are people of color, women, veterans, or combinations of those characteristics. More than 80% are unionized.
In the eyes of those who want to privatize the service, these workers get paid too much, even though USPS workers earn what is widely considered mid-tier incomes and do not receive large compensation packages. “The rich are trying to take from the poor,” Corley said.
“They’re trying to nominate some terrible people to the [USPS] Board of Governors. If they get those people in, with a bad Postmaster General, they could sell it off bit by bit,” warned Graham Coppe, a national APWU staffer and informal emcee at the Takoma, D.C., rally. It was one of three in the D.C. metro area.
Vote-by-mail is a major agenda item for the presiden. He wants to abolish it, falsely claiming it is a source of rampant election fraud. Steiner, through a proposed rule halted on July 27 by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, wants to curb it, too.
“We want to keep the USPS, and deliver the ballots, too,” said another speaker at the Takoma rally. Its post office serves both the D.C. neighborhood and the progressive village of Takoma Park, Md.
That led another speaker to comment that “the USPS was formed to promote democracy.” Its founding on July 26, 1775, predates the Declaration of Independence, and was meant to knit the 13 colonies together. Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General.
“Now we have people trying to destroy democracy and the right to vote,” that speaker said, referring to Trump’s campaign against mail-in-voting and his other anti-democracy moves. As part of his drive to denigrate democracy, Trump is considering an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But in the meantime, Steiner admits the proposal is stalled until the Boston court’s injunction against it is lifted.
“Today across the nation, we are standing together because the Postal Service is one of America’s most trusted public institutions,” Wanda Harris, President of APWU Local 172, told public radio station WLRN in Miami in a statement before heading to a mass rally there.
“Every community depends on it, every postal worker takes pride in continuing to provide universal service to more than 167 million addresses. Congress should strengthen the post office, not force service cuts or post-office closures,” Harris said.
“Postal workers serve every address, every day, in every community,” she added. “A strong Postal Service means stronger communities, a stronger democracy and a stronger America.”
At the Takoma rally, participants signed a comment sheet about why they support the USPS, listened to the speakers, and then chanted and waved signs “The U.S. Mail Is Not For Sale,” receiving frequent enthusiastic honks of support from passing motorists
AFSCME retiree Saul Schneiderman, now an activist with the Labor Heritage Foundation, led everyone in a closing song, “We Shall Not Be Moved.” He added a new verse at the end:
“Go tell Trump we shall not be moved. Go tell Trump we shall not be moved. Like a tree that’s standing by the water, we shall not be moved.”
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