'US mail not for sale:' Dallas USPS workers protest efforts to privatize postal service
Postal workers rally against privatizing USPS
Local workers say if the Postal Service goes private, prices would go up and service would suffer, especially in rural communities.
DALLAS - Postal workers in Dallas joined a nationwide protest against the Trump administration’s apparent efforts to privatize the U.S. Postal Service.
Package handlers call it a hostile takeover that would negatively impact customers.
U.S. MAIL, NOT FOR SALE
What we know:
The American Postal Workers Union held protests in more than 100 cities, including Dallas, against the possible privatization of the U.S. Postal Service, which has always been an independent government agency.
Louis DeJoy announced his departure as USPS postmaster general in February.
This week, he informed Congress that he has an agreement with the Department of Government Efficiency to ‘assist in identifying and achieving further efficiencies,’ meaning more cuts.
Package handlers are unhappy with Elon Musk, who has said the postal service should be privatized, and President Donald Trump, who last month said he was thinking about a federal takeover of the self-funded government agency and putting it in the commerce department, even though the U.S. Constitution says only Congress can change the Postal Service structure.
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"We want to have a postal service that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money," the president said. "And we're thinking about doing that, and it will be a form of a merger. But it will remain the postal service, and I think it will operate a lot better."
What they're saying:
Jonathan Cage is president of the Dallas chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, Local 732.
"To the workers, they'll be affected pretty much like other federal workers. You'll have cuts and losses to the actual consumer. You lose a viable service," he said.
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The postal workers say if the Postal Service goes private, prices would go up and service would suffer, especially in rural communities.
USPS did lose almost $10 billion last year, but the union says it is not a for-profit business but a for-the-people service.
"We're out here today to bring awareness to the Postal Service being a public service, that is basically being targeted as being dismantled," said Cage.
What's next:
This was the first "National Day of Action."
Letter carriers and their union plan protests this Sunday. A protest is planned at the USPS Flower Mound facility.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the local American Postal Workers Union and national news coverage.