The Fight to Save the Postal Service. Still waiting for packages that were mailed in December? We are regular Americans who believe the Postal Service is an integral part of the American portrait and history. Donald Trump has rejected a bill that would save it from running out of money in September. Unlike the millions of our money given to private companies, Trump and his destroyers have refused to help our postal service in anyway. Online. Edra Moira. To Save The Post Office, People Try Buying Stamps : Coronavirus Updates People are taking to social media to urge support for the U.S. Postal workers are still doing their jobs, despite the risks; so far 1,219 postal workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 54 have died. Save America’s Postal Service American Postal Workers Union 1300 L Street NW Washington DC 20005. When I carried the mail in Durham, North Carolina—back in the 1990s, before I became a historian—an older man used to greet me joyfully, “Here comes Uncle Sam!” To him, and to others on my route, I represented not just the chance of a letter, but also a connection to the federal government—and to an institution that had probably provided a relative with a steady job, and a path into the middle class. Just like the first USPS crisis, sparked by the pre-funding requirement, this one is unnecessary and politically manufactured; and just like that earlier crisis, it is also very real. Congress must provide ample funding to revive the USPS in its next stimulus package. Any revision of service standards. Save the Postal Service -- The good news is, the problem is mostly artificial—Congress created it , and could fix it if it wanted to. 5:08. Report. Find information on our most convenient and affordable shipping and mailing services. But not until 2006, during the George W. Bush administration, did those efforts gain much traction. Pay/Benefit Help But the bill is still sitting there, and in the interim, COVID-19 struck. Without help from the federal government, the Postal Service could run out of cash later this year. Will House and Senate Democrats hold the line in future stimulus packages for USPS relief? 26. How To Save The Postal Service . The volume of mail the USPS is delivering has already fallen by nearly one-third compared with last year, and it is now projected to lose $22 billion over the next 18 months. Created Aug 15, 2020. The Postal Service is a virtual lifeline to many of the smaller communities of our state. Trump’s willingness to block proposed bailout funds to the USPS—a 245-year-old government service—may reflect his personal grudge against Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon (and owner of The Washington Post), combined with an ignorance of how the USPS actually works. On February 5 of this year, the House passed the USPS Fairness Act by a vote of 309–106—including support from almost half of House Republicans—and sent it to the Senate. The coronavirus-related plunge in mail revenue is threatening to bankrupt USPS—Trump doesn't want to help. These obligations, the rise of the internet, and the Great Recession combined put the USPS in the red, where it remains today: The USPS had $11 billion of outstanding debt at the end of the last fiscal year (which was up to $14.4 billion as of April 1). Save the Postal Service. In November, on the day that networks called the election for Joe Biden, cheering crowds stopped mail trucks in the streets of New York City to thank postal workers for delivering more than 135 million mail-in ballots on time during a pandemic. Excluding those debt payments, it should be noted, the USPS has finished each year with revenue surpluses for most of the past decade—as a 2018 Trump administration report documented. However, its organization and legal framework have failed to keep pace with changing times. But it also reveals a conservative hostility to the Postal Service that antedates the current crisis. The Postal Service has also long been foundational to our democracy, and that’s truer than ever in 2020. The Post Office has historically provided an avenue toward middle-class stability for a wide variety of Americans—veterans, new immigrants, rural migrants—but for no group has it been more important than for African Americans. To “save the post office,” the U.S. So much has changed since then, but that much remains the same. The Trump administration is now playing a costly game of chicken to get what it sought long before the current crisis: drastic service and facilities cuts, more noncareer labor and outsourcing, and a rollback of employee rights and benefits. 0 Comments. Trump confirmed this strategy as he signed the latest stimulus package on April 24, declaring that no loans would go to the USPS if it didn’t quadruple package rates. The USPS is a lifeline for many Americans -- and especially during the COVID-19 crisis, millions will rely on the Postal Service for everything from mail-in ballots to life-saving medications. Such a financial crisis would mean laying off workers, limiting service, and worsening delays — and delays are already so bad that holiday cards mailed in early December are still being delivered in late January. The roots of the Postal Service’s current financial crisis lie in the compromise legislation that followed the strike, the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act. Ordinary Americans of every political stripe, including 90 percent of Republicans and 96 percent of Democrats, support a postal relief package. Here we're figuring out how to save it. Persuade your local union to order union-made “Save Our Postal Service” face masks. January 22, 2021. To preserve the USPS is not to merely conserve it as some relic of the past. April 24, 2020. 1-877-477-3273, The scammers send an official-looking email complete with US Postal Service logos that say you have, The changes, which the Postal Service proposed in October and November, were approved by the Postal, In U.S. Playing next. Invite postal workers, elected officials, academics, faith leaders, and union leaders to participate. The Postal Service Survived the Election. 72 likes. Although the USPS provides a service mandated by the Constitution and federal law, it has received no federal funds since 1982, relying on postal product sales to keep revenue ahead of expenditures. Trump’s personal hostility has merged with long-standing conservative antipathy to endanger a vital civic institution. Unscheduled Leave Number Follow. Postal Service must be reformed. The Postal Service is in Danger Trump’s personal hostility to the USPS—“the Post Office is a joke,” he said on Friday—merges with a long-standing Republican embrace of both postal privatization and the trope that the USPS is a mismanaged business. The Postal Service today is 37 percent minority and 37 percent female. Congress demanded that the post office set up a multi billion dollar retirement fund for its workers for the next 75 years back in 2006. The national union will make sure that House and Senate members receive petitions collected in their districts or states. In its 2018 report, a Trump-appointed task force (led by Mnuchin) suggested drastic service and facilities cuts, more noncareer labor and outsourcing, and an end to the American Postal Workers Union’s collective-bargaining rights. Please let your readers know about the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA). Postal Service from going bankrupt during this crisis. On March 18, 1970, the successors of the original post riders revolted against both their employer and their union leaders in an eight-day nationwide illegal wildcat strike, demanding a living wage and job dignity as well as greater union democracy. If it succeeds, we’ll all be the poorer for it. Postal Service President Trump said he would refuse emergency funding to keep the U.S. Read: From clerk to postmaster at one of the U.S.’s oldest post offices. Ask window clerks and carriers to wear them at work, and everyone to wear them while commuting or out in public. 1.8K likes. Today’s USPS is the direct descendant of the original U.S. Post Office Department. Now, in Washington, DC, a coalition of lawmakers and advocates are trying to pull off a different sort of feat: saving the United States Postal Service. That isn’t just the services it provides—that’s the jobs, the path into the middle class, and the glue holding communities together. Letters during the George W. 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