Democratic Party Platform: Preserve a Public Postal Service

The Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee has endorsed the public Postal Service and approved measures that were advocated by the APWU.

In a draft of the party’s platform, released on July 1, the committee recommended nearly all the postal planks outlined by President Mark Dimondstein in a presentation to the committee on June 9.

“The United States Postal Service is a national treasure. That is why Democrats embrace a vibrant, public Postal Service that offers universal service, and reject any effort to privatize or marginalize it,” the draft says.

In the draft, the party committed to the following:

• Eliminating the 2006 Congressional mandate to prefund retiree health costs 75 years into the future;
• Restoring service standards, including overnight delivery of first-class mail;
• Maintaining six-day and door-to-door delivery;
• Appointing members to the Board of Governors and the Postal Regulatory Commission who “champion a strong public Postal Service”;
• Expanding postal services, including offering postal banking services, and
• Promoting vote-by-mail to increase voter participation and help address voter suppression.

“Adopting this platform is good news for our Postal Service and postal workers,” Dimondstein said. “The Postal Service is vital to jobs and the economy, by providing service to individual and business customers and providing a foundation of decent unionized living-wage jobs, won through collective bargaining that lift-up our communities.”

The APWU submitted a written proposal to the Republican National Committee’s platform committee urging the adoption of a pro-public Postal Service plank.

Click here to watch Dimondstein’s opening statement.
Click here to read Dimondstein’s prepared remarks.