President Dimondstein's Statement on Resignation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy

Today Louis DeJoy resigned as Postmaster General. By law, Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino becomes interim PMG.
Make no mistake, Louis DeJoy was forced out by a presidential administration that is intent on breaking up and selling off the public Postal Service. Reports from last month made clear that the White House has plans for a hostile takeover of the Postal Service.

As I said then, any attack on the Postal Service is part of the ongoing oligarchs’ coup against the vital public services our members and other public servants provide the country. We know that privatized postal services will lead to higher postage prices, and lower service quality to the public.

No matter who leads the USPS, it is – and must remain – the People’s Postal Service.

Our goals as the APWU remain the same – to defend the public postal service, fight for new and expanded services, to defend the rights of postal workers and fight to improve our pay, benefits, and working conditions. The service our members provide every single day, in every community, are vital to the country. We will continue to lead the fight to ensure that the Postal Service stays in the hands of its rightful owners – the people – and that it continues to provide quality, universal service that the public both relies on and deserves.

The law is clear: the Postal Service was created by Congress as an independent agency, designed to be free from shifting political winds and dedicated solely to serving the country. The law is also clear that the Board of Governors, and it alone, is empowered to hire and fire the Postmaster General. Any attempt by this Administration to seize power from the Board of Governors is unlawful and only makes clear their goal of breaking up and selling off the Postal Service to private corporations.

The APWU calls on the Board of Governors to stand its ground and take its responsibilities seriously. The Board should move as quickly as possible to hire as the next permanent Postmaster General, someone committed to the public service mission of the USPS, who respects the rights of hardworking postal workers, and who will not break up and sell off our public Postal Service.

APWU President Mark Dimondstein