‘Fight like hell': Postal workers rally again, continue push back on privatization talk

Yahoo

24-03-2025

Protesters opposing any plans to privatize the U.S. Postal Service formed a red wedge along a downtown Raleigh street corner Sunday, many of them wearing T-shirts saying 'Fight Like Hell.'
The protest was one of many held at post offices across the country at a time when President Donald Trump and billionaire industrialist Elon Musk are making cuts in many federal agencies. It was sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers, a union representing carriers in more populated areas.
'There are those who say that we should wait and see what happens,' Melvin Anderson, president of the NALC's Roanoke Rapids branch, told a crowd of 250 postal employees and their supporters gathered at New Bern Avenue and Person Street. 'I say nonsense. We don't wait to see what happens, we make things happen by being proactive.'
Exactly what Trump and Musk's plan for the postal service is unclear.
It operates independent of any federal agencies, and is largely supported through service charges and the sale of postage and other products. But NPR recently reported Trump administration discussions to bring the postal service under the Commerce Department, and potentially adding Census work.
'We want to have a post office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money,' Trump said last month. 'We're thinking about doing that. And it'll be a form of a merger, but it'll remain the Postal Service, and I think it'll operate a lot better.'
Trump has also suggested privatizing the service, which employs roughly 630,000 people, including 3,750 in North Carolina.
Many at the protest work for the postal service, but the crowd was dotted with supporters who worried any plans to change the service would hurt the people who depend on it. Many motorists also showed their support by honking horns as they drove by.
Charlotte Jones-Roe of Raleigh, a retired state employee, said she had lived in rural areas in Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. In those places the postal service is a lifeline. For some, it's the only contact they may have with the outside world, she said.
'I think it was meant as a service rather than a profitable institution and it needs to continue,' Jones-Roe said. 'It's just really important not to sell out to privatization.'
She and others at the protest said they opposed Trump handing over budget decisions to Musk, who spent $288 million in the past election to support the president and other Republican candidates, The Washington Post reported. Trump put Musk in charge of a new Department of Governmental Efficiency, a role that did not require Senate confirmation.
Much of DOGE's actions are being challenged in federal courts.
'We need to get rid of waste, I think everyone thinks that, but there's a process for it,' said Kathy Rausch of Raleigh, who came to the protest to support her postal carrier. 'There just has to be a better process than someone like Elon Musk who's coming in who we didn't elect.'