CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — U.S. postal workers across the country are protesting the Trump administration’s plans to privatize the post office.
Seven demonstrations happened on Sunday in cities across the Tar Heel state, including one in the Ballantyne neighborhood in Charlotte. More than seventy people, many of them U.S. Postal Service employees, lined Ballantyne Commons Parkway in front of the Ballantyne Post Office to make their voices heard.
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“We do not want the government to privatize our jobs,” said Amber Dunn, a city letter carrier.
Their concerns were in response to the Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to cut about 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the USPS.
“We are trying to make everyone aware that we are the postal service and hell no we won’t go,” said Vanda Stanback, a city letter carrier. “We will not go. We can’t be bought. We can’t be sold.”
It’s currently an independent agency and has been for more than five decades, but President Trump is weighing the idea of placing it under the direct control of the Department of Commerce.
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“It’ll be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the postal service,” said Trump. “I think it’ll operate a lot better than it has been over the years. It’s been just a tremendous loser for this country. Tremendous amounts of money are being lost.”
Postal workers said the changes would not only hurt them, but also anyone who receives mail.
“It would hurt our pay, our benefits, and things like that,” said Dunn. “It will slow things down. The rules and regulations that govern us would change and they would have any Joe blow delivering your mail. Especially the rural areas. They would be hugely affected by the changes.”
On average, officials with the USPS said they process and deliver about 23.5 million packages each day.
