Photo Courtesy of Rep. Meng’s Office
“The American people and small businesses rely heavily on the Postal Service and if the agency is privatized, we all stand to be socked with higher delivery costs and a reduction of service,” Rep. Meng said.
By Forum Staff
Borough postal workers joined U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) Monday outside her Flushing office to protest President Donald Trump’s proposal to privatize the U.S. Postal Service.
Meng noted that in April, Trump issued an executive order that established a task force to look into the Postal Service’s operations and finances. Before thepanel came to any conclusions, Trump’s administration put forward a proposal to eventually privatize the agency. The idea was part of“Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century,” a government reorganization plan that was released in June.
“Selling the U.S. Postal Service to private corporations would be disastrous for our country, and we are here to tell the President loud and clear, and in the strongest possible terms, that the U.S. mail is not for sale!” Meng said to the members and leaders of the nation’s postal unions, including the National Association of Letter Carriers, American Postal Workers Union, and National Postal Mail Handlers. “The American people and small businesses rely heavily on the Postal Service and if the agency is privatized, we all stand to be socked with higher delivery costs and a reduction of service, particularity in areas where it’s not profitable for private companies to make deliveries. Privatization may also put the jobs of our hard working postal employees on the chopping block. It’s clear what we must do. We must take this privatization plan, stamp return to sender on it, and make sure it goes straight back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!”
The rally was part of similar events that took place on Mondayin congressional districts throughout the country where postal employees joined members of Congress to stand against the proposal.
“Privatizing the Postal Service, a national treasure since 1775, would be absolutely disastrous,” said Tony Paolillo, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Flushing Branch 294, which represents postal workers throughout Queens. “Service would be solely based on private gain, and would put millions of American jobs in jeopardy. The U.S. mail is not for sale!”
Meng is a cosponsor of a resolution in the House that calls for the Postal Service to not be privatized. Introduced in July, the bipartisan measure calls for Congress to “take all appropriate measures to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the federal government and is not subject to privatization.”
The resolution, which has 223 cosponsors, is pending before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. A similar bipartisan measure in the Senatewas introduced in September. It has 42 cosponsors and has been referred to the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Meng reported.
“The U.S. Postal Service…was never meant to be a money-making business,” added George Mangold, president of the New York State Association of Letter Carriers. “Privatization would destroy that service.”
