24-03-2025
'Crazy amount of uncertainty': Johnstown community turns out to support postal service
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – About 150 postal workers and voters against the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service gathered Sunday for a demonstration in downtown Johnstown's Central Park.
The event in Johnstown was one of hundreds that have been held nationwide by branches of the National Association of Letter Carriers since President Donald Trump announced he was a proponent of privatizing the postal service.
NALC contends that privatizing of the USPS would raise costs and jeopardize 7.9 million jobs tied to the postal industry.
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Jason McCoy, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 451 in Johnstown, said the rallies are being held nationwide for one simple reason – 'to tell the current administration, 'Hell, no,' to dismantling the postal service.'
McCoy urged those in attendance to write to Johnstown's representatives in Congress to vote for House Resolution 70.
That resolution, proposed in January, calls on Congress to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the U.S. Postal Service remains an independent establishment.
NALC
Jason McCoy, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 451 in Johnstown, speaks during a demonstration against the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Johnstown's Central Park.
Those who gave speeches Sunday stressed that Article I of the Constitution, known as the Postal Clause, grants Congress – not the president – the power to regulate a postal system.
Speakers at Central Park included Johnstown Councilman Taylor Clark and state Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, as well as Philip Glover, the national vice president of American Federation of Government Employees.
Glover spoke of privatization of the post office in context of Trump's other drastic proposed federal cuts to Veterans Affairs, national parks, Social Security offices, Medicaid and Transportation Security Administration officers.
'It's an internal assault on the public sector – on your services,' he said, 'and this postal service takeover,. You want Amazon taking over the postal service? You think you'll get a letter to rural communities?'
Glover
National Vice President of American Federation of Government Employees Philip Glover speaks during a demonstration against the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Johnstown's Central Park.
The USPS is a $78 billion-a-year agency that lost $9.5 billion during fiscal year 2024.
'They keep saying, 'Well it doesn't make money,' ' Glover said. 'Well, it's a service to the American public. Are we going to let it go to the lowest bidder?'
The crowd shouted: 'No.'
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Laraine Reedy, of Johnstown, attended the demonstration as a concerned voter.
'Privatization is the antithesis to everything the U.S. Constitution was created to protect,' she said.
Reedy was surprised to see such a strong turnout for the demonstration.
'What that tells me is the issue is resonating down to people who normally wouldn't protest,' she said.
Demonstration
About 150 people attended a demonstration against the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Johnstown's Central Park.
A mail carrier who did not want to be identified because of postal union rules about making public comments said carriers work hard, starting with six 11-hour days a week to build a career.
'I've invested in a career,' he said. 'There's a crazy sense of uncertainty now, when in the past, this was a job you could rely on.'
