dcreport | There have been bipartisan efforts to unstrap the unnecessary
economic weights from the organization and to provide pandemic aid.
Trump, Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have all taken steps to block any such changes.
Trump could clear up his objections, as he appointed a majority of
the Postal Regulatory Commission. The commissioners must sign off on
deals like the delivery rates that Amazon pays. He also appointed the
entire USPS Board of Governors.
“It’s apparent that there are some folks for whatever their reasons
are opposed to the postal service,” Pete Coradi, national business agent
for the American Postal Workers Union, told DCReport.
There are two potential rationales for the ongoing attempts to break the agency.
One is that privatization would transfer enormous amounts of value.
There are untold billions in real estate, trucks, contracts and
intellectual property. There is high marketing value, if harnessed, to
tell which people and companies sent letters or packages to any
individual.
The other rationale would be to attack what is the third-largest
employer in the nation, with more than 600,000 mostly unionized workers,
historically allies of Democrats.
Although not considered federal employees, postal workers are eligible for federal health and retirement benefits. Push them into the private sector and suddenly there’s less of a burden on federal taxpayers, but not Americans.
Privatize the postal service and hundreds of thousands of workers
would be affected, potentially seeing worse benefits and pay. That’s
particularly bad for the African American community, which has
historically been heavily represented in the institution.
And by overloading the agency and then sinking it further, denying
the pandemic help freely handed out to large corporations, the GOP might
get its way.
