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american postal workers union
Postal Workers Unions Ready to 'Fight Like Hell' Against Trump-Musk Attack on USPS
"The public Postal Service is a democratic right, and we won't back down in defending it...Together, we say: The U.S. Mail Is Not For Sale!" said the American Postal Workers Union.
Mar 12, 2025
Following reports that the Trump administration is interested in restructuring and perhaps even privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, unions representing postal workers are fighting back.
On March 20, postal workers who are represented by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and their allies will hold a day of action to resist "threats of privatization and political interference to the public Postal Service," according to the union's website. Locals around the country are participating.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which represents U.S. Postal Service employees who are city letter carriers, will host local rallies on March 23 at NALC branches to "fight like hell" against "dismantling" the widely cherished public delivery service.
On Tuesday, NALC also held an event in Atlantic City, New Jersey where workers rallied against changes to the Postal Service.
U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering putting the Postal Service under the control of the Commerce Department. The agency, which is overseen by a bipartisan board of governors whose members appoint a postmaster general to run day-to-day operations, has functioned as an independent entity since the passage of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. Congress passed that law to make it freestanding and to shield it from "political tinkering," according to The Washington Post.
Also according to the Post, which cited postal experts, putting the Postal Service under the Commerce Department would likely violate federal law.
In December, the Post reported that Trump had designs to privatize the Postal Service.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who is playing a core role in the Trump administration's efforts to slash government, has also said the Postal Service should be privatized.
President of APWU, Mark Dimondstein, warned against privatization in a Q&A posted to the union's website on Monday.
"The USPS is owned by the people and exists to serve everyone with universal, affordable service; if privatized, it would exist to make maximum profit to enrich corporations, Wall Street, and billionaires," he said. "Privatization is bad for workers, bad for unions, and bad for the people. Prices go up and service goes down, while the bosses and billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos laugh all the way to the bank."
"Let's be clear-eyed and ready for battle and declare 'The U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale!' Onward!" said Dimondstein.
According to materials distributed by NALC, "any effort to privatize or restructure USPS is a direct threat to: 640,000 postal employees, including 200,000 city letter carriers represented by NALC The universal service every American relies on Millions of households and businesses, especially in rural America."
This is not the first time that the Postal Service has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. Trump was interested in privatizing the Postal Service during his first term, but backed off the idea in the face of opposition.
In April 2020, a Postal Service Board of Governors member resigned over the Trump administration's attempts to politicize the Postal Service. Louis DeJoy, a Trump campaign donor, was appointed Postmaster General in 2020. DeJoy recently announced he plans to retire soon.
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'We Can't Allow This to Happen': Musk Touts Postal Service, Amtrak Privatization
"This is their end goal: the privatization of as much of the U.S. government as possible, enriching the rich and leaving everyone else worse off," warned one progressive.
Mar 06, 2025
Elon Musk sparked calls Thursday to fight what one union called an "illegal power grab" after the senior adviser to President Donald Trump and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency said that the United States Postal Service and Amtrak, the national passenger rail service, should be privatized.
"I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized," Musk—who is advising Trump on how to eviscerate federal agencies—said while appearing remotely at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference. "I think we should privatize the post office and Amtrak for example... We should privatize everything we possibly can."
"Basically, something's got to have some chance of going bankrupt, or there's not a good feedback loop for improvement," he opined.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employs more than 600,000 people. Amtrak has more than 21,000 workers.
"Big banks are already drawing up plans for a fire sale of the most profitable parts of our postal network."
Musk called the state of Amtrak "kind of embarrassing" and contrasted the U.S. rail system with the networks of countries including China, where the central government has financed the construction of nearly 30,000 miles (48,200 km) of high-speed lines. The United States has less than 300 miles of high-speed rail.
"Amtrak is a sad situation," Musk asserted. "It's like, if you're coming from another country, please don't use our national rail. It can leave you with a very bad impression of America."
Responding to Musk's remarks, Progressive Mass political director Jonathan Cohn said on social media, "This is their end goal: the privatization of as much of the U.S. government as possible, enriching the rich and leaving everyone else worse off."
Like Musk, Trump has also expressed support for privatizing the USPS, a move recommended by his Office of Management and Budget during his first term. The president also sought to slash Amtrak's funding during his first administration.
Last month, reporting that Trump is seeking to place the USPS under the control of the Commerce Department—which is led by billionaire cryptocurrency banker Howard Lutnick—sparked outrage and allegations of illegality.
"White House sources recently briefed the media that they were planning an illegal power grab of our public Postal Service," the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said in an email this week responding to ongoing attacks on the USPS. "Such a power grab could allow them to put into action our greatest fear. Stripping our services and selling off our USPS."
"Big banks are already drawing up plans for a fire sale of the most profitable parts of our postal network, raising shipping costs for the public, and leaving taxpayers on the hook to fund the rest," APWU added. "We can't allow this to happen!"
Last month, longtime Postmaster General Louis DeJoy signaled he would step down by asking the United States Postal Service Board of Governors to begin selecting his successor. DeJoy's tenure has been marred by allegations of criminal election obstruction, conflicts of interest, and other corruption. His Delivering for America, a 10-year austerity plan, has been condemned by some critics as a roadmap to privatization.
It's not just the USPS and Amtrak. Key members of the Trump administration and their oligarch allies are pursuing policies and actions opponents argue are ultimately aimed at privatizing a sweeping range of federal agencies and services, from
public education to veterans' healthcare to mortgage lending, Social Security, Medicare, and more.
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'Hell No!' Postal Workers Protest Illegal Trump Takeover Scheme
"The 295,000 active and retired members of the National Association of Letter Carriers have a message to deliver to the White House: Hands off the Postal Service."
Feb 24, 2025
Postal workers and labor movement allies rallied in Washington, D.C. on Monday to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's reported plan to seize control of the independent and beloved Postal Service, a move that could pave the way for full privatization of the country's mail operations.
Monday's rally was organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), which said last week that Trump's proposal to bring the Postal Service under the purview of the Commerce Department is "unconstitutional and illegal."
"The 295,000 active and retired members of the National Association of Letter Carriers have a message to deliver to the White House: Hands off the Postal Service," the organization said in a statement after The Washington Postrevealed details of the executive order Trump is reportedly preparing to sign.
At Monday's rally, attendees—including letter carriers and union leaders—chanted "Hell no!" and waved signs that read "Fight Like Hell" to display their readiness to oppose any Trump administration takeover of the USPS, which is extremely popular with the American public.
"I want all of my postal worker brothers and sisters to know, this has nothing to do with your performance," Fredrick Redmond, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, said at the protest. "This has nothing to do with you as workers. You provide the highest level of service to the American people."
"This is about an unmitigated consolidation of power by this administration, power to put more money and more resources in the hands of the billionaires as opposed to spreading the wealth amongst the people who create the wealth every day," Redmond added.
We are standing with @NALC_National today to say #HellNo to dismantling our postal service! We are going to #FightLikeHell to protect our workers and communities! #solidarity pic.twitter.com/Ljr8npqYWL
— Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Union (@IUBAC) February 24, 2025
Monday's rally followed protests over the weekend in Portland, Oregon, where postal workers voiced concerns about the future of the USPS under Trump's leadership.
"People in rural areas wouldn't be able to get their medications that they depend on, they might not get mail at all, if it's privatized," Jae Burlingame, a longtime mail carrier, told a local media outlet on Sunday.
According toThe Washington Post, Trump is weighing an executive order that would terminate every member of the Postal Service Board of Governors and absorb the USPS into the Commerce Department, which is led by Trump-appointed billionaire Howard Lutnick.
Trump said Friday that Lutnick was "going to look at" potential USPS changes and touted the billionaire's "great business instinct."
"Your reported plans for the Postal Service would put at risk the timely, affordable delivery of life-saving medications, mail-in ballots, important financial documents, and letters from loved ones."
The Postal Service is currently self-funded, relying on the sale of postal services and products such as stamps rather than tax revenue.
CNNnoted Friday that "other countries have privatized their postal services in the past. But a plan to privatize the 250-year old service that predates the formation of the United States could dramatically change the way Americans receive deliveries, and even who would be able to get service."
"Current law requires the USPS to deliver to all addresses, even rural ones that are too costly for a private business to serve profitably," the outlet added. "Even many online purchases handled by private companies such as United Parcel Service depend upon the Postal Service to handle the 'last mile' of delivery to homes."
Christy Hoffman, president of the UNI Global Union, said last week that "we have seen the perils of privatizing postal services in Europe, which have led to reduced services, increased prices, job losses, and cut off rural communities where it is unprofitable to deliver mail."
"Instead of privatizing USPS," Hoffman added, "Trump should be supporting the Postal Service to seize opportunities in e-commerce, expand services, particularly to marginalized and remote communities, and safeguard a precious, public-owned, communication network that is ultimately irreplaceable."
In a letter to the U.S. president over the weekend, a group of Democratic lawmakers led by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)—who attended Monday's rally—warned that the "unprecedented and reckless plan to dismantle the Postal Service as an independent agency would directly undermine the affordability and reliability of the U.S. postal system."
"Congress prescribed a clear and critical mandate for the Postal Service: to deliver efficient, reliable, and universal service to all Americans," the lawmakers wrote. "Your reported plans for the Postal Service would put at risk the timely, affordable delivery of life-saving medications, mail-in ballots, important financial documents, and letters from loved ones, especially in rural or less-profitable areas that the private sector refuses to service."
"We urge you to immediately withdraw all plans to dismantle one of our nation's most cherished public institutions and uphold the Postal Service's independent status as required by law," they added.
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