Postal Workers Say, ‘Hands Off’ Our USPS in National Day of Action to Defend the Public Postal Service

In a resounding show of solidarity, thousands of postal workers and members of the community took to the streets for a National Day of Action on March 20 to say, “Hands Off Our Public Postal Service – The U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale!”

From coast to coast - and beyond - postal workers, joined by labor and community allies, took action at over 300 locations throughout the country to fight for our jobs, our service, and our future. Many thousands more, who due to work schedules were unable to attend a local event, took action by calling Congress and signing petitions.

Event organizers took photos and videos of their events and shared them on social media and in the press. In total, there were over 600 TV news stories, 231 print stories, and over three million views of social media posts. Our message came through loud and clear – the U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale!

By holding informational pickets, handing out leaflets, speaking with customers, holding press conferences and talking with the media, postal workers underscored the importance of a vibrant, public Postal Service and informed the public about the serious threat that postal privatization poses to our jobs and services. Many APWU members kept the momentum going by joining the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) for rallies in the following days.

In February, the public Postal Service came under a serious and unprecedented threat by the billionaire “Wall Street” class when the Washington Post reported that the new presidential administration intended to fire the Postal Board of Governors and shift Postal Service operations to the Commerce Department, currently headed by the billionaire Howard Lutnick. They want to aggressively – and illegally - take over and dismantle the public Postal Service in a sell-off to the highest bidders for their own private gains and profits.

Postal privatization would not just mean the end of reliable, affordable services, it would also destroy more than 600,000 good union jobs. That is why we spent the day speaking one-on-one with customers and reaching out to local media to get the word out that the U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale!

“This is really a fight between Wall Street and Main Street. They want their hands on this money,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein, in reference to the nearly $80 billion that the USPS generates in revenue each year. “And we want to take care of the 169 million addresses that we move the mail to get delivered to every day,” he continued. “March 20 is not a one-day battle, this is the beginning of an ongoing fight,” concluded President Dimondstein, while addressing attendees at the Brentwood Post Office in Washington, DC.

But the fight doesn’t end today! A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives recently introduced House Resolution 70 (H. Res. 70), expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization.

Visit apwu.org/action to write to your House representative and urge them to cosponsor H. Res. 70 to stand with the Postal Service and its dedicated workforce against the threat of privatization. 

You can also keep the conversations going about the threats to our public Postal Service. Continue to share the flyers in your community and ask your friends and family to call Congress as well. 

Our March 20 National Day of Action was a big success, showing the strength of our solidarity to defend a Postal Service that belongs to the people, and not the billionaires. To see all your photos from across the country, visit: apwu.org/photos.