[Photo: File]
FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – US Postal Service employees spent their Columbus Day holiday protesting the Trump Administration’s proposed plan to privatize the agency.
Employees gathered on Monday in 140 cities across the country from Fresno to Washington D.C. saying they want the post office to remain a part of the federal government.
Workers carried signs that read “The U.S. mail is not for sale.”
In May, President Trump signed an executive order creating a task force to evaluate the Postal Service’s operations and finances.
The task force has not released its report.
“It’s an absolute crazy idea to privatize the Postal Service,” said Mike Monopoli, Liaison for the National Association of Letter Carriers.
In a statement, the American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein said “these companies are going to raise prices, cut service and leave rural communities isolated, senior citizens stranded and many businesses without a reliable means of reaching their customers.”
The American Postal Workers Union, which is behind the rallies, represents 200,000 employees, and said the US Postal Service employs 7.5 million people across the country.
Workers support House Resolution 993 which reads “it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains an independent establishment of the federal government and not subject to privatization.”
223 members of the House of Representatives are co-sponsoring House Resolution 993 opposing Trump’s proposal, while the companion Senate Resolution 633 has 42 co-sponsors in the 100-member Senate.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
