Immediate Release 6/23/20
Contact: Jamie Partridge
Communities and Postal Workers United
503-752-5112
Dozens of postal workers, retirees, and customers rallied and marched for full funding of the postal service, beginning at the East Portland post office today. Wearing masks with the slogan “Save Our Postal Service”, carrying balloons, signs, depositing postcards to Congress and dancing to the tune “Mr. Postman”, the crowd chanted and applauded speakers before marching to “Bridge the Gap.” The walk across the Hawthorne Bridge symbolized the fiscal bridge needed to keep the USPS alive. $25 billion in an emergency appropriation is needed to prevent the postal service from running out of money, according to the Postal Board of Governors and the recent Postmaster General.
Rally goers heard from representatives of the American Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the Alliance of Retired Americans, a VFW post commander, the Jobs with Justice coalition, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Oregon AFL-CIO, and letters from the governor and the two U.S. Senators.
Across the country, in dozens of cities, postal workers and customers took to the streets today to demonstrate their support for full postal funding. The American Postal Workers Union sponsored a car caravan in Washington, DC, with a million-signature petition delivery to the U.S. Senate. While the House has passed a $25 billion rescue package, the Senate is not expected to take it up until after July 4th.
Due to the pandemic economic crash, the postal service is experiencing precipitous revenue loss, running out of money by fall. The Trump administration, the Republican-dominated Postal Board of Governors and the president’s crony, the newly appointed Postmaster General, are seizing the economic crisis as an opportunity to open the road to privatization. The USPS is threatened with job loss, cuts, closures, outsourcing and union-busting. Postal supporters are calling on Republicans to do the right thing and Democrats to not back down!
SOURCE: Communities and Postal Workers United