Postal workers unions are saying the privatization of the mail service is closer than ever before

Postal workers across the country are protesting potential privatization of the postal service.
Protesters argue that the post office is a vital service, not a business, and should not be privatized.

The post office isn’t a storefront business: it’s a service.

The notion that millions of Americans rely on the postal service as an institution brought dozens of protestors from across the state to the Springfield post office at 2105 E. Cook St. on March 20.

Workers rallied during the Americal Postal Workers Union Day of Action happening nationwide to spread awareness about threats of privatization of postal service from the President Trump administration.

Unions represent 91% of the postal service workforce and in Springfield Locals 239 President Johnny Bishop held the Day of Action with supporters of a free access mail system.

AFL-CIO, The Letter Carriers Union, the retiree department of the post office and the general public joined APWU with signs and chants on the side of the street as honking cars flew by.

Bishop, who has been with the post office for 37 years and will be retiring this year said he’s never been afraid of privatization talks before. Not until now.

“The post office is a service and not a business,” Bishop said. “(US Postmaster General Louis) DeJoy has been trying to run it like a business, it’s in the constitution. … This time right now is the closest we’ve ever been to privatizing.”

Springfield resident Nanci Ridder doesn’t have family working for the post office but came out on a blustery afternoon with multicolored sign in hand to show support for the local unions.

“I love my post office and DeJoy has been trying to destroy it consistently since they first put him in,” Ridder said. “We have to fight back peacefully and we must make Trump and Musk go away.”

DeJoy was appointed to his position in 2020 by Trump and prior to appointment was the founder and CEO of New Breed Logistics, as well as a major Republican Party donor for the president.

DOGE and the future of the post office

On March 13, outgoing DeJoy negotiated with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to cut 10,000 out of 640,000 postal service jobs, following President Donald Trump in February ruminating over bringing the postal service under the Department of Commerce.

In a letter to congress, DeJoy said Elon Musk’s agency would help usher a “historic level of transformational change,” reducing costs by issues like retirement plans, worker comp costs, infrastructure of post offices and postage problems.

“Can they do it? They’d have to get one heck of a vote through Congress,” Bishop said. “But they’re not going to go through a vote, they’re going to do what they want like all these other organizations so we’re out here protesting it.”

Postal worker Neila Childry, secretary of Locale 239 and tier three steward of the union, said her five years experience with the post office could be cut short if the sector is privatized.

“Who knows what may happen in the future if they close down certain areas if I will have a job,” Childry said. “I’m here for people who are new like me that have only been on the job five or six years. My son is here shouting with me because he needs to know what solidarity with unions is like.”

(This story has been updated because a previous version included an inaccuracy.)

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at [email protected]; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

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