Postal workers are expected to protest in more than a dozen locations up and down California tomorrow, from Redding to Chula Vista, as part of a nationwide action.
The motto for the National Day of Action, “U.S. Mail is not for sale,” is a rebuke to Elon Musk’s suggestion that the U.S. Postal Service be sold to private companies.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said its basic mission would be compromised if the agency is privatized.
“The whole question of universal service, meaning that we go to every address, 169 million addresses, six days a week, sometimes seven, no matter who we are and where we live,” Dimondstein outlined. “That’s all under threat when there’s serious talk about turning this over to private entities.”
Concerns about layoffs and service
Supporters worry post offices would be shuttered and employees laid off, causing delays in delivery of medications for senior citizens. They also wonder if a private company can be trusted to handle millions of mail-in ballots. Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump floated the idea of folding the Postal Service into the Commerce Department in order to save money, a move advocates said would be illegal because Congress created the Postal Service as an independent agency, separate from the executive branch.
Dimondstein argues privatization would be disastrous for consumers as well as workers.
“Package rates would probably double for the people of the country,” Dimondstein noted. “The services would go down and postal workers and their families, but the country would lose a base of good, living-wage union jobs.”
As of 2023, California had almost 33,000 postal workers, making an average of $60,000 a year. Los Angeles is second only to the New York area in number of postal employees.
