Civil Rights Group slams House Republicans for attempting to privatize the U.S. Postal Service

Civil Rights Group slams House Republicans for attempting to privatize the U.S. Postal Service

Privatization means massive loss in crucial public services and living-wage jobs for Black families

From CJ Frogozo, and Kayla Keller

 ColorOfChange.org launches petition, issues statement from Executive Director Rashad Robinson

      NEW YORK, NY –  “House Republicans are jumping at the chance to put the U.S. Postal Service on the chopping block. But the post office isn’t broke. Thanks to its exceptional operational efficiency, the USPS has managed to turn a profit on postal sales in the worst economy since the Great Depression — and it hasn’t taken a dime of taxpayer money since 1971.

     “This is a crisis manufactured by Congress and the media. The post office is one of America’s most widely-used and trusted institutions. Its potential privatization poses a great threat to the hundreds of millions who rely on its services and the more than half-million largely Black and female workers whose living-wage jobs are at risk.

     “Congress created the ser-vice’s financial crisis, and they could end it today. A Bushera requirement that the Postal Service prefund its retiree health benefits 75 years into the future — a burden imposed on no other government agency or private employer — has been digging the otherwise profitable USPS deeper and deeper into the red.

     “Instead of working to fix the problem, Republicans in the House are taking advantage of the post office’s financial vulnerability to try to shut it down. They’re cheering the recent announcement by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe threatening to end Saturday mail delivery to cut costs, because it would result in dramatic workforce reductions and mail delays that make it easier to justify dismantling the entire postal system.

     “The public sector is under relentless right-wing attack — and Black working women are bearing the brunt. When the country is still experiencing nearly 8 percent unemployment — and Black unemployment has climbed back up to 14 percent — any deliberate effort to put even more of us out of work is indefensible.

     “The United States Postal Service is a critical service for Black and low-income communities, and it must be protected. The end of Saturday mail delivery would create delays for Veterans’ and Social Security checks, putting people who are already struggling to make it to the end of the month at even greater risk. And a full 46 percent of Black Americans, who lack access to high-speed Internet in their homes, rely on the post office for basic communication with the outside world.”