Postal workers protest effort to privatize
JACKSONVILLE — Members from four postal unions and multiple government agencies gathered Monday in Jacksonville Beach in front of the U.S. Postal Service post office there to protest President Trump’s proposal to privatize the mail carrier.
Trump created a task force in April to evaluate USPS operations and finances in lieu of its failing business model.
The task force — led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney — has yet to release its findings, even though local business agent for the National Association of Letter Carriers Bob Henning says Trump’s team has already tipped its hand.
“The White House is expected to support the privatization of the USPS,” says Henning, wearing a blue shirt featuring a ‘U.S. Mail Not For Sale’ graphic. “They believe the USPS’s universal service obligation to deliver to every address in the nation for the same low price is no longer necessary.”
Higher prices and limited delivery options are two factors protesters cited as drawbacks to Trump’s proposal.
Henning says there is more.
“A public USPS is vital to the nation’s election system since tens of millions of people vote through absentee ballots each election,” said Henning. “Voters would no longer have this option if a restructuring took place.”
Doris Orr-Richardson, president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), sides with Henning, adding that a USPS restructuring could drastically shift the careers of its employees, a third of who are former military personnel.
“The USPS employs over 350,000 workers and it’s the nation’s largest employer of veterans,” said Orr-Richardson. “Restructuring would likely mean thousands of layoffs.”
To prevent layoffs and keep the USPS public, Henning said the support of U.S. congressmen and women is vital.
“We have 223 signatures in the House and 42 signatures in the Senate,” explains Henning. “We’ll continue to seek the support of government leaders to ensure the USPS remains a public entity.”
Those in favor of privatization point to USPS’s growing debt, which reiterates the organization’s unsustainable business model, according to the Federal News Network.
“Since 2006, USPS has had to pre-fund retiree health benefits,” writes Jory Heckman, a Federal News Network reporter who covers the USPS. “Over the last decade, it’s defaulted on a number of payments to the retiree health benefits fund. By the White House’s estimate, USPS remains on the hook for more than $100 billion in payments to the fund.”
Heckman also reports that the USPS owes another $15 billion to the Treasury Department’s Federal Financing Bank.
Orr-Richardson acknowledges the figures, but she said they indicate a “manufactured crisis.”
“The 2006 law requiring the USPS to pre-fund retiree health benefits for 75 years is a mandate that applies exclusively to the USPS,” says Orr-Richardson. “It’s the number one reason why USPS is staying in the red.”
USPS is America’s most popular government agency, according to research published by the Pew Research Center. It also accounts for almost half of global mail volume, a reality Henning said cannot be ignored.
“The U.S. Postal Service provides high-quality service, six — and often seven — days a week, at no cost to American taxpayers,” concluded Henning. “Privation is not inevitable or necessary.”