The president of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents over 200,000 active and retired postal workers, has slammed a plan floated by Donald Trump to privatize the U.S. Postal Service.
“There is talk about the Postal Service being taken private, you do know that—not the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” Trump said at a press conference on Monday. “It’s an idea that a lot of people have liked for a long time. We’re looking at that.”
In response to Trump, Mark Dimondstein, president of the union, said in a statement privatization would “end universal service.” Universal service is the obligation under U.S. federal law providing for mail delivery throughout the United States, even in hard-to-reach locations.
“Universal service is especially important to rural America. Privatization also would lead to price-gouging by private companies,” Dimondstein added.
Multibillionaire Elon Musk, who spent millions to help Trump win this year’s election, has endorsed the privatization idea. Extremely wealthy individuals like Musk and Trump would be unlikely to experience the service disruptions associated with privatizing the mail service. Trump has surrounded himself with millionaires and billionaires who have a distant understanding of the trials and travails of most Americans, particularly those in the working class.
Most Americans have expressed extremely positive sentiments about the postal service. In a Pew Research Center poll conducted in July, the agency was ranked as the second-most popular agency, with 72% of Americans having a positive view of the service. (The National Park Service came in first, with 76% support.) Even 68% of Republicans backed the USPS, close to its support among Democrats (76%).
Trump has been down this road before. In 2018, his presidential administration proposed a plan to privatize part of the mail service. The plan also hinted at possible pay cuts for hundreds of thousands of postal workers, calling for negotiations with unions that would “reduce costs.”
The idea was opposed by unions like the National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union. Ultimately, the plan was scrapped, but Trump’s comments mean that yet another unpopular conservative proposal could come back to life.
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