Hundreds protest against proposed privatization of US postal service

About 250 postmen from Long Island gathered outside the Huntington Station post office on Monday, joining a national demonstration against the privatization of the postal service.

At 140 rallies across the country, workers rallied against a proposal to privatize the service presented by the Office of Management and Budget White House, according to a press release issued by the National Association of Factors and Letter Carriers.

At Huntington Station, workers chanted mail, not for sale "and wore matching blue shirts with the printed slogan.

Walter Barton, president of the National Letter Carriers Association, 6000 in Amityville, said the measure would cut jobs and hurt residents and small businesses that depend on daily deliveries.

"If you go in private, you do not know what you are going to get," Barton said. "A business, just to make a profit, could hire anyone."

David VanderWerf, who dispatches the mail to Seaford, led the singing with a megaphone.

"If a private company takes over, it could result in a massive loss of jobs," said VanderWerf, 50, of Bethpage.

In April, President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a task force to study the US Postal Service, stating that the agency is on an "unsustainable financial path" and "needs to be restructured to avoid a taxpayer-funded bailout, "according to The Associated. The task force has been tasked with studying various factors, including the price of USPS package delivery, which has not yet published its recommendations, said the National Association of Medical Devices. letter carriers.

In June, a separate report from the Office of Management and Budget indicated that the US Postal Service "had no clear path to profitability" and called on the agency to follow the example of some European countries that had privatized this service.

"We are not waiting for the report of the working group. The administration has already indicated where it is headed, "said Mark Dimondstein, president of the US Post Union, in a press release. "Private companies will plunder the valuable resources of the popular postal service, which has been gaining in value as a result of the growth of e-commerce."

There are currently resolutions in the US House of Representatives and Senate to keep the USPS "independent" and "non-privatized".

Rachel Uda reports on issues in the Long Island area and covers the news.