Workers, communities rise to defend the Postal Service

The catchy rhythmic beat of Washington, D.C.’s home-grown Go-Go music was cranked up loud outside U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s home in a protest against actions that weaken the post office. The August 23 protest was one of many around the country over the last several weeks as people come together to defend crucial delivery of mail. The U.S. post office, a target of privatization efforts for years, has been under a renewed attack by the Trump administration as the country heads into a contentious election with charges of fraud, voter suppression, and deliberate sabotage flying. The president selected DeJoy, a major Republican fundraiser with no Postal Service experience, as the new Postmaster General in spite of DeJoy’s having been on the Board of Directors of XPO Logistics, a large company that does business with USPS and other government agencies. DeJoy was allowed to keep $30 million or more in XPO stock while serving as postmaster general. DeJoy’s deep ties to private firms that could compete against the post office raised obvious concerns. This might have just been another all-too-frequent type of conflict of interest, similar to Trump’s owning private businesses. It received much more attention when DeJoy instituted organizational changes that appear designed to slow delivery and weaken the post office. This, combined with Trump’s repeated rants against mail-in voting, could easily create an electoral crisis as many people try to avoid crowded polling places during the pandemic. DeJoy moved quickly after taking office on June 15. Twenty-three executives were either reassigned to new positions or removed, strengthening his power in the organization while also erasing the important institutional memory that workers with decades of experience bring to the organization. He also eliminated overtime work, ordering that any excess undelivered mail should simply be held for later delivery. This, along with removal of on-street mailboxes and mail sorting machines from several post offices has brought charges that the Trump administration is attempting to sabotage the election. While media attention has focused on threats related to the upcoming election, DeJoy’s actions are part of a longer history of efforts to weaken the post office and realign it to work more as a for-profit business rather than a crucial public service. The ultimate aim, which Trump has called for, is to privatize the agency. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/workers-communities-rise-to-defend-the-postal-service/