Postal workers took to the streets in cities across Michigan Thursday to protest against the Trump administration’s plans to change the United States Postal Service (USPS).
President Donald Trump said last month he’d like to move the independent postal service agency under the control of the U.S. Commerce Department. Postal workers are concerned the move could be a step toward privatizing the postal service, something the President has talked about in the past.
Michael Mize is the state union president of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). He said it’s important for the public to stand against changes to the postal service.
“We want to make sure there’s a statement made by the public the U.S. Mail is not for sale,” said Mize.
To rally support, postal workers and retirees took to the streets in a half dozen Michigan cities Thursday as part of national day of action by the APWU.
In Saginaw, more than two dozen union members carried signs saying “Hands Off Our Public Postal Service.”
Thomas Gillespie was a 20-year USPS employee and he's the president of the Saginaw retirees’ chapter of the APWU. He’s concerned privatization could lead to the end of mail delivery to some parts of Michigan deemed “unprofitable.”
“Can a private company deliver a letter? Sure. Will they deliver a letter?” said Gillespie. “Is some private company going to each and every house in the Upper Peninsula. Is some private company going to go to each and every house in the Thumb? No.”
Whatever the long-term plans for the USPS may be, staffing cuts are likely coming.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to cut 10,000 workers from the U.S. Postal Service budget and he said he’ll do that working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DeJoy also plans to cut billions of dollars from the agency’s budget.
The Post Office was created during the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775. In 1872, Congress named it an executive branch department. In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act, which made it an independent, self-financing agency called the U.S. Postal Service.
USPS has struggled financially in recent decades, amid increased competition from parcel delivery companies and the decline in personal mail.
