Under the theme. "U.S. Mail, Not for Sale," Missouri postal workers are joining thousands nationwide, rallying to protect union jobs and oppose the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service.
In a recent letter to Congress, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced plans to cut 10,000 postal service jobs, while President Donald Trump proposed merging the Postal Service with private shippers under the Commerce Department.
Bill Brady, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 8 in St. Louis, argued privatizing the Postal Service would be the end of reliable mail delivery, among other things.
"It would destroy over 600,000 good union jobs, and some of these are actually retired veterans," Brady pointed out. "The USPS is the country's largest civilization employer of veterans, so that would definitely be detrimental."
The Missouri Farm Bureau warned postal changes could hurt rural economies, especially agriculture, which relies on timely mail. With more than 85,000 farms covering almost 27 million acres, agriculture is Missouri's leading industry.
A recent Wells Fargo report pushed for privatization.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, called it a "smoking gun." He argued that the bank is after financial gains, as privatization could raise shipping rates, benefiting UPS, FedEx, and Wells Fargo's investments.
"That Wells Fargo report talks about packages having to go up between 30% and 140% if they could pull off this privatization," Dimondstein noted. "They're very excited. The people of the country should be very concerned."
Lawmakers remain divided on how to address the Postal Service's $100 billion losses, with some advocating for government aid and others pushing for structural reforms.
This story comes from The Missouri Public News Service, a partner with KRCU Public Radio.
