ST. LOUIS – The chants of hundreds of protestors could be heard throughout the streets of downtown St. Louis Sunday afternoon.
“We are, yearly, the most trusted federal agency and we’ve been around longer than the United States has been around,” John McLaughlin, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 343, said.
Former mail workers, current employees, and allies gathered on the steps outside of the main office on Market Street as President Donald Trump’s recent actions raise concerns about the future of the U.S. Postal Service.
“We’re in the Constitution. It’s a service we provide,” McLaughlin said.
President Trump announced plans back in February to restructure the USPS, stating, “We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money, and we’re thinking about doing that, and it will be a form of a merger.”
Plans like shifting control of the USPS to the Department of Commerce have raised concerns about possible privatization and service cuts, most drastically set to affect some of the nation’s most vulnerable areas.
“Outstate Missouri? They’re not going to be getting service. And they’re just going to deliver to the most affluent areas,” McLaughlin said.
Linda Rezny, whose husband is a former USPS employee, joined Sunday’s protest.
“Can you imagine a private company bothering to deliver mail to a rural area for a price that they can afford? It’s not gonna happen,” she said. “We can’t privatize the post office. It’s a public service, and that’s what we need.”
Talks of the industry’s financial troubles have been common knowledge for years, but unions pushed back after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently proposed cost-cutting plans, such as reducing the workforce. For now, cherished stamp collectors, pen pals, and small businesses hold their breath to see what decisions are made next under the Trump administration.