“It’s a power grab to destroy the public Postal Service. Shame on them,” responded APWU President Mark Dimondstein to shocking reports from the Washington Post that the Trump Administration is attempting to use the coronavirus crisis to force draconian cuts to the Postal Service.

“The Post’s reporting confirms what our union has long known: This Administration is committed to fulfilling the decades-long pursuit by some to sacrifice our public Postal Service at the altar of private profit,” Dimondstein said.

“Postal workers provide an absolutely essential service to everyone in the country – no matter how rich or poor we are or where we live. During this pandemic, postal workers have continued to bind the nation together and deliver essential medicine, supplies and information to a public that is confined to their homes,” he continued.  “At a time when the country needs us now more than ever, Mnuchin and his Wall Street cronies are attempting to exploit the crisis to raise prices, demonize heroic postal workers and cut service, all so private delivery companies can profit. It’s a power grab. Shame on them.”

The Treasury Department chaired a Presidential Task Force that in December 2018 proposed unprecedented service cuts to the Postal Service, cuts in postal worker pay and benefits and increases in package prices. That followed a June 2018 Office of Management and Budget report that called for Postal Service privatization.