July 30, 2025 • 19 mins
APWU President Mark Dimondstein delivers a quick podcast episode sharing an op/ed he wrote for the 250th anniversary of the USPS and how you can get involved in celebrating. Visit apwu.org/250 for more information.
Additionally, Mark talks about the recent APWU rally in NYC, where postal workers protested outside of Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has published a memo outlining how they could break up and sell off our public Postal Service for profit.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Hello, APWU family.
This is President Mark Dimondstein withour new podcast, Communicating with
You, the Member, and bringing you upto date on a lot of important issues
and sometimes fast moving events.
And I want to remind all of youbefore we get started, that you can
download the podcast on all streamingservices, including YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, or whereveryou choose to listen to podcasts.
(00:31):
And of course, you can alsofind it on our website.
apwu.org.
So a w Family, hardworkingand Dedicated postal Workers.
Congratulations and happy anniversary.
2025 is the year of the 250thanniversary of the US Post Office, one
(00:53):
year older than the country itself.
So think about that.
We're talking about approximately12 generations we're the 12th
generation of postal workers sinceBen Franklin was the first postmaster
general of the United States.
And let's be very clear that the postoffice survived and thrived and still
(01:16):
continues to be so relevant and trustedby the people of the country, 'cause of
all of you and those who came before usand those who passed the torch to us.
It's the workers that made thepost office go from the early post
office times, forging roads andrailroads, maybe on horseback stage.
Coach trains, buses.
(01:36):
So, you know, a lot of people don't know.
Mail used to be sorted on trains.
They used to be sorted on buses that wentfrom rural community to rural community.
Dangerous working conditions.
At the time, hundreds of postal workerswere killed in rail accidents for
example, and then of course, trucking.
Airlines, moving mail, andwe've always been there.
(01:58):
Workers from all crafts, whether wesort mail you know, once by hand, now
by machine window clerks at retailunits servicing the customers, truck
drivers and, and our MVS craft movingthe mail and repairing vehicles,
maintenance employees, keeping ourmachines going, our buildings going.
Support services with the IT workand, and the support around our
(02:21):
rights and benefits as, , as workers.
All of this, all of the success fromthe post office has come from you.
So you should be very proud of notonly our history, but what you do every
day for the people of the country.
Not always easy when managementmakes poor decisions, when service
is not what it should be, butwe move the mail, every day.
(02:45):
We sort, we transport, we keep themachines going, and we help get the mail.
Once it gets to the letter carriers, themail comes from us and they get it to
every address in the country, every day.
169 million addresses.
Think about what a wonderfulnational treasure we're a part of.
And then we have our forefathersand foremothers who stormed the
(03:06):
heavens in the 1970s strike.
That was the fundamental time.
The key struggle that turned postaljobs into good living wage union jobs.
And we just ratified a new contract that'scontinuing that march of progress based on
what the courageous strikers did in 1970.
(03:29):
So one of the things I've done as yourpresident I've done around the 250th
anniversary, and we'll talk abouta few other things we have planned,
is I've submitted a opinion piece,to the newspapers as your president
and I want to share it with you.
We don't know for sure that it's gonnabe published yet as we're recording
this, but we certainly hope so.
And if it's not published, we'llshare it this way and others as well.
(03:53):
And here's what it says.
While the post office celebrates 250years of service, new privatization
efforts threaten the survival of thisnational treasure, that's the title.
Growing up near the Boston Post Road, Inever appreciated that an old thoroughfare
between New York and Boston had beenforged by the early postal system.
(04:15):
Nor did I know that I would one dayproudly earn a living as a postal
worker or spend 12 years as the electedleader of my union of postal workers.
From that experience at this timewhen the country is celebrating
the 250th anniversary of the postoffice, I have a unique perspective
on the United States PostalServices, past, present, and future.
(04:37):
Older than the country itself andenshrined in the Constitution.
The post office was created on a thenradical commitment to the free exchange of
ideas and information among the populace.
The founding fathers relied onthe post office to organize the
second Continental Congress and tocirculate the federalist papers.
Later, the abolitionist movementagitated and organized against the
(04:59):
evils of slavery, largely throughmailed newspapers and correspondence.
The post office has driven the nation'sdevelopment from roads, railroads,
and civil aviation, to the Sears mailorder catalog to Amazon's e-commerce.
What is today referred to asthe USPS has always changed and
(05:19):
adapted to the times vote by mail.
First gave union troops access tothe ballot box during the Civil War.
And today it is the preferred method ofvoting for tens of millions of people.
Rural free delivery permanentlyimplemented in 1902.
Linked, isolated rural communitieswith the rest of the country.
The postal savings bankestablished in in 1911.
(05:42):
Soften the blow of the depressionfor millions before being
killed by the big banks in 1967.
The E-Commerce Revolution is unimaginablewithout the USPS's unrivaled network.
For generations.
The law has required universaland affordable postal service to
every community, while privateshippers maximize profit.
(06:05):
The public USPS remains thelow cost anchor of the $1.3
trillion mailing industry.
To the benefit of 169 million householdsand businesses that received their mail
six and sometimes seven days a week.
The USPS has led the way with its fairhiring practices, good living wage union
(06:25):
jobs, and as the largest civilian employerof veterans workers from all walks of
life, earn equal pay for equal work.
The postal service remains a true symbolof the strength of the public good.
And is prized by the vast majorityof Americans with dedicated postal
workers among the most trustedpublic servants in the country.
(06:48):
Yet as we celebrate this historicmilestone, new threats are directed at the
very existence of this national treasure.
The White House is openly advocatingfor postal privatization, an idea
promoted for decades by the likesof the Heritage Foundation as Elon
Musk rampaged through government.
He declared that selling off the USPSwas a priority, and now the postal
(07:12):
board of governors has shamefullyselected a new postmaster general Paul
Steiner, right from competitor FedEx.
An obvious and glaring conflict ofinterest if the privatizes succeed at
selling off this public institution inwhole or in part Wall Street investors
and postal competitors may celebrate.
(07:34):
But postal customers, businesses,large and small households,
urban and rural, will suffer.
In February, Wells Fargo advisorsput in writing what is usually
whispered by the private ship shippersand their allies in Washington.
Privatization of the USPS would be aboon to UPS- United Parcel Service-
(07:55):
and FedEx, and lead to increasedparcel prices by a stunning 30 to 140%.
The Wells Fargo memo also said thatmany local post offices would be
sold off and closed, or as the bigbank terms it harvested for value.
want to know what a privatizedmail service looks like?
(08:15):
Look no further than the rural mail.
The United Kingdom's Historic PostalService now owned by a check billionaire
where a first class letter costs $2.
In Portugal.
Privatization has resulted inthree days a week delivery.
The USPS is a successful example ofgovernment of buy, and for the people.
(08:37):
It belongs to us, the people,and not to Wall Street.
Through new and expanded products,e-commerce package growth, and
better staffing, the USPS canremain a vital public service for
generations if it can survive TheVultures who wish to privatize.
The following inscription carvedinto white granite on the Smithsonian
(09:00):
Postal Museum is a powerful reminderof why it's so important to maintain
the USPS as a public service,especially as Americans commemorate
this important anniversary quote;
messenger of sympathy and love,
servant of parted friends,
consoler of the lonely bondof the scattered family,
(09:22):
enlarger of the common life,
carrier of news and knowledge,
instrument of trade and industry,
promoter of mutual acquaintance
of peace and goodwillamong men and nations.
End of quote.
Happy anniversary to thePeople's Post Office.
The US Mail is not for sale,nor should it ever be APWU
(09:47):
family.
That's the end of my opinionpiece submitted to the newspapers.
We hope it publishes, but whether it doesor not, I wanted to share with all of
you, and this ties into our event, ourrecent event, protesting at Wells Fargo
in New York City, but spreading their wordthroughout the country that Wells Fargo's
(10:07):
plans, and they make it very clear thisis a struggle between Wall Street and Main
Street, between the wealthy few, and thetens of hundreds of millions of people
that the post office serves every day.
And this effort was a, was to shinethe light for the people of the
country on what's really drivingall this talk more than talk plans,
(10:29):
proposals, concrete ways to get there,such as in the Wells Fargo report.
Of those who want to privatize to enrichtheir own profit margins and laugh all
the way to the bank at our expense.
So our job partly now, is to sharewith the people of the country
that the threat is serious.
The threat is real, but what's driving it.
(10:50):
It has nothing to do with more efficiency,better service, or anything else.
It has to do with how these private banks,these investment companies, these hedge
funders and these private corporationscan make money off the public institution,
the money that's generated by the usersof the post office, no tax dollars.
And then they're gonna takeit all the way to the bank.
(11:11):
And what happens is prices will go up.
The Wells Fargo report makes itvery clear that's their goal and
that's what they're cheering about.
Service will go down because thenit's gonna be determined on service,
will be determined on whether somebodycan make a quick buck and a profit
workers rights, and benefits andwages will be destroyed and shifted
(11:33):
to the non-union private sector.
And according to the Wells Fargoreport, post offices will close.
So that's what's before us APWU family.
And the more we stay united witheach other, with the other postal
unions and postal workers, with thepeople of the country, all our allies
in the labor movement and beyond.
The more we stay united and themore and more people understand the
(11:55):
threat and where it's coming from.
We're gonna unite and we're gonnacontinue to win and thrive going forward.
We want the post office to be here atleast another 250 years in changing
times, maybe serving the people indifferent ways, but here for the
people of the country and to servetheir needs, in a changing world.
Yes, letter volume is down.
(12:17):
Still very important for thepeople of the country, but
that's an impact of the internet.
And yet packages are explodingbecause of that same internet.
And we want to make sure we're there , andthat management makes better decisions
than they have about the service that thepeople of the country need and deserve.
And based on better service, we shouldbe able to continue to grow even in
(12:39):
these drastically and fundamentally.
Changing times.
So one of the things we're gonna be doingduring this anniversary year, is we're
gonna launch a campaign . It's a pro,it's called a proclamation campaign.
Now, what does that mean?
We're asking all of you.
We're, we're all over the country fromthe most rural outpost to the deepest
(13:00):
urban center , and everything in between.
People trust us.
We know a lot of people, and we representpeople, and we think it's a strength,
who have very different political viewsand cover the entire political spectrum.
And as part of that, we have builtrelationships as postal workers and
our locals and state organizations withmany elected officials at the local
(13:23):
and state and really federal level too.
So what we're looking to do during this,the rest of this anniversary year, is to.
Work with city councils, countycommissions, town select people,
whatever entity you have in yourlocal government to get proclamations.
(13:43):
Honoring the, an, the 250th anniversarylauding the role that the public
postal services played in the lifeof the country and opposing any
efforts to privatize in whole or inpart our wonderful national treasure.
And that's gonna take a littlework, but it's enjoyable work.
Meeting with city councilors,meeting with mayors that we know.
(14:06):
We will share with everybodyaround the country, all our
members, a sample proclamation.
It can be changed, it can be adjusteddepending on the relationships
that you have at the local level.
And this is not a partisan issue.
This is bipartisan.
We can get proclamations who we, inwhatever towns we're in, maybe they
(14:27):
have conservative leadership, maybethey have liberal leadership, maybe
they have something in between.
Maybe they have something tomore extreme, it doesn't matter.
People understand how important thepost office is for their communities.
It's really an anchor of somany communities historically.
But now, still an anchor of so manycommunities throughout our country.
(14:49):
So we're asking you to do that.
Get with the city councilors, getwith the mayors, have a conversation.
Figure out how to get it done.
And guess what?
Bring yourselves and your coworkers,and your family members and your
customers to a meeting . And thenonce you get a proclamation, that
is gonna be voted on talk about it.
Make it a news storyin the local newspaper.
(15:10):
Send or encourage customers tosend letters to the editors.
This is all part of making sure that thehearts and minds of the people that are
very much with the post office remain thatway in this challenging and unprecedented
time that we find ourselves in.
So this is gonna make a difference.
The more proclamations we have, thebetter it will be as these billionaire
(15:32):
privatizes try to move to take away whatbelongs to the people of the country.
So we, we, we, we hopeyou'll take on this project.
It's something everybody can work on.
You can get with your local leadershipor your state leadership and say, Hey, I
listened to the podcast and I think thisis a great idea, and I volunteer to help.
Can we do something?
(15:53):
I'm happy to go to a meeting withthe mayor who I happen to know,
or I put a yard sign in in myyard when the election was on.
Or that city councilthat sits, , sits there.
I went to high school, with.
Or I'm part of the, veterans organizationor the community group, or the PTA
and so use all of those connectionsto go out there and organize public
(16:16):
opinion ever stronger to make surethat the post office is full, the
public post office as it continues tohave the full support of the people.
So that's part of our happy anniversarypostal system postal workers,
most importantly, and we thinkit's gonna make a huge difference.
As, as we face a challenging future wherethese privatizes really want to pick
(16:38):
the pockets of the people of the countrydestroy our unions and our union rights
and destroy our decent union jobs with it.
So folks, as we're organizing andmobilizing against the proposals
and the plans and the actions ofWells Fargo and Wall Street against.
The Public Postal Service and thosebillionaires that want to privatize
(17:00):
us, , we've issued a new ad that's gonna,that's already showing some on tv, but
will mainly be shared with the peopleof the country through social media.
So you have a very important role to playwith that because social media can be
amplified by anybody that's on Facebook.
Instagram , whatever it all is.
And as that amplification takes place,you can play a role in millions and
(17:24):
millions of people seeing the ad.And the ad is an exposure 30 second
exposure of this Wells Fargo equityresearch report cheering on and actually
planning for postal privatization.
So, one, we encourage you towatch the ad. It's on our website.
And on our social media channelsand two, we ask you to try to
(17:48):
spread it wherever you can.
Friends, family, neighbors,community organizations.
And again, this, this ad is really partof the effort to alert the people to
this real threat of privatization andto alert the people of the country of
what's driving the threat, which is WallStreet greed versus the needs of Main
(18:10):
Street and the people of the country.
So a APWU family, I'll close outwith this and we will look forward to
speaking to you again in the not toodistant future on future podcasts.
Happy anniversary, 250 years takingthe torches from the generations,
our ancestors before us, ourancestor postal workers, and be
(18:34):
proud of what you do in this work.
Not always easy; night work,weekend work, holiday work.
Putting up with abusive supervisorsfighting back along the way.
But it's a wonderful service that weprovide the people of the country.
And the 250th anniversary should give ussome perspective that we have beyond going
(18:54):
to work every day and punching the clock.
Without you, there would not bea United States Postal Service.
Without you, the people of the countrywould not get the service that they
need, whether it's medicines toour veterans ballots in the mail.
Greeting cards, love letters, periodicalsinformation, financial transactions, and
of course e-commerce In this day, thatwill work for everybody, not just for
(19:19):
those where a company can make money.
So stand strong.
Onward to the next 250 years APWU Family.
Solidarity forever.
Hello, APWU family.
This is President Mark Dimondstein withour new podcast, Communicating with
You, the Member, and bringing you upto date on a lot of important issues
and sometimes fast moving events.
And I want to remind all of youbefore we get started, that you can
download the podcast on all streamingservices, including YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, or whereveryou choose to listen to podcasts.
(00:31):
And of course, you can alsofind it on our website.
apwu.org.
So a w Family, hardworkingand Dedicated postal Workers.
Congratulations and happy anniversary.
2025 is the year of the 250thanniversary of the US Post Office, one
(00:53):
year older than the country itself.
So think about that.
We're talking about approximately12 generations we're the 12th
generation of postal workers sinceBen Franklin was the first postmaster
general of the United States.
And let's be very clear that the postoffice survived and thrived and still
(01:16):
continues to be so relevant and trustedby the people of the country, 'cause of
all of you and those who came before usand those who passed the torch to us.
It's the workers that made thepost office go from the early post
office times, forging roads andrailroads, maybe on horseback stage.
Coach trains, buses.
(01:36):
So, you know, a lot of people don't know.
Mail used to be sorted on trains.
They used to be sorted on buses that wentfrom rural community to rural community.
Dangerous working conditions.
At the time, hundreds of postal workerswere killed in rail accidents for
example, and then of course, trucking.
Airlines, moving mail, andwe've always been there.
(01:58):
Workers from all crafts, whether wesort mail you know, once by hand, now
by machine window clerks at retailunits servicing the customers, truck
drivers and, and our MVS craft movingthe mail and repairing vehicles,
maintenance employees, keeping ourmachines going, our buildings going.
Support services with the IT workand, and the support around our
(02:21):
rights and benefits as, , as workers.
All of this, all of the success fromthe post office has come from you.
So you should be very proud of notonly our history, but what you do every
day for the people of the country.
Not always easy when managementmakes poor decisions, when service
is not what it should be, butwe move the mail, every day.
(02:45):
We sort, we transport, we keep themachines going, and we help get the mail.
Once it gets to the letter carriers, themail comes from us and they get it to
every address in the country, every day.
169 million addresses.
Think about what a wonderfulnational treasure we're a part of.
And then we have our forefathersand foremothers who stormed the
(03:06):
heavens in the 1970s strike.
That was the fundamental time.
The key struggle that turned postaljobs into good living wage union jobs.
And we just ratified a new contract that'scontinuing that march of progress based on
what the courageous strikers did in 1970.
(03:29):
So one of the things I've done as yourpresident I've done around the 250th
anniversary, and we'll talk abouta few other things we have planned,
is I've submitted a opinion piece,to the newspapers as your president
and I want to share it with you.
We don't know for sure that it's gonnabe published yet as we're recording
this, but we certainly hope so.
And if it's not published, we'llshare it this way and others as well.
(03:53):
And here's what it says.
While the post office celebrates 250years of service, new privatization
efforts threaten the survival of thisnational treasure, that's the title.
Growing up near the Boston Post Road, Inever appreciated that an old thoroughfare
between New York and Boston had beenforged by the early postal system.
(04:15):
Nor did I know that I would one dayproudly earn a living as a postal
worker or spend 12 years as the electedleader of my union of postal workers.
From that experience at this timewhen the country is celebrating
the 250th anniversary of the postoffice, I have a unique perspective
on the United States PostalServices, past, present, and future.
(04:37):
Older than the country itself andenshrined in the Constitution.
The post office was created on a thenradical commitment to the free exchange of
ideas and information among the populace.
The founding fathers relied onthe post office to organize the
second Continental Congress and tocirculate the federalist papers.
Later, the abolitionist movementagitated and organized against the
(04:59):
evils of slavery, largely throughmailed newspapers and correspondence.
The post office has driven the nation'sdevelopment from roads, railroads,
and civil aviation, to the Sears mailorder catalog to Amazon's e-commerce.
What is today referred to asthe USPS has always changed and
(05:19):
adapted to the times vote by mail.
First gave union troops access tothe ballot box during the Civil War.
And today it is the preferred method ofvoting for tens of millions of people.
Rural free delivery permanentlyimplemented in 1902.
Linked, isolated rural communitieswith the rest of the country.
The postal savings bankestablished in in 1911.
(05:42):
Soften the blow of the depressionfor millions before being
killed by the big banks in 1967.
The E-Commerce Revolution is unimaginablewithout the USPS's unrivaled network.
For generations.
The law has required universaland affordable postal service to
every community, while privateshippers maximize profit.
(06:05):
The public USPS remains thelow cost anchor of the $1.3
trillion mailing industry.
To the benefit of 169 million householdsand businesses that received their mail
six and sometimes seven days a week.
The USPS has led the way with its fairhiring practices, good living wage union
(06:25):
jobs, and as the largest civilian employerof veterans workers from all walks of
life, earn equal pay for equal work.
The postal service remains a true symbolof the strength of the public good.
And is prized by the vast majorityof Americans with dedicated postal
workers among the most trustedpublic servants in the country.
(06:48):
Yet as we celebrate this historicmilestone, new threats are directed at the
very existence of this national treasure.
The White House is openly advocatingfor postal privatization, an idea
promoted for decades by the likesof the Heritage Foundation as Elon
Musk rampaged through government.
He declared that selling off the USPSwas a priority, and now the postal
(07:12):
board of governors has shamefullyselected a new postmaster general Paul
Steiner, right from competitor FedEx.
An obvious and glaring conflict ofinterest if the privatizes succeed at
selling off this public institution inwhole or in part Wall Street investors
and postal competitors may celebrate.
(07:34):
But postal customers, businesses,large and small households,
urban and rural, will suffer.
In February, Wells Fargo advisorsput in writing what is usually
whispered by the private ship shippersand their allies in Washington.
Privatization of the USPS would be aboon to UPS- United Parcel Service-
(07:55):
and FedEx, and lead to increasedparcel prices by a stunning 30 to 140%.
The Wells Fargo memo also said thatmany local post offices would be
sold off and closed, or as the bigbank terms it harvested for value.
want to know what a privatizedmail service looks like?
(08:15):
Look no further than the rural mail.
The United Kingdom's Historic PostalService now owned by a check billionaire
where a first class letter costs $2.
In Portugal.
Privatization has resulted inthree days a week delivery.
The USPS is a successful example ofgovernment of buy, and for the people.
(08:37):
It belongs to us, the people,and not to Wall Street.
Through new and expanded products,e-commerce package growth, and
better staffing, the USPS canremain a vital public service for
generations if it can survive TheVultures who wish to privatize.
The following inscription carvedinto white granite on the Smithsonian
(09:00):
Postal Museum is a powerful reminderof why it's so important to maintain
the USPS as a public service,especially as Americans commemorate
this important anniversary quote;
messenger of sympathy and love,
servant of parted friends,
consoler of the lonely bondof the scattered family,
(09:22):
enlarger of the common life,
carrier of news and knowledge,
instrument of trade and industry,
promoter of mutual acquaintance
of peace and goodwillamong men and nations.
End of quote.
Happy anniversary to thePeople's Post Office.
The US Mail is not for sale,nor should it ever be APWU
(09:47):
family.
That's the end of my opinionpiece submitted to the newspapers.
We hope it publishes, but whether it doesor not, I wanted to share with all of
you, and this ties into our event, ourrecent event, protesting at Wells Fargo
in New York City, but spreading their wordthroughout the country that Wells Fargo's
(10:07):
plans, and they make it very clear thisis a struggle between Wall Street and Main
Street, between the wealthy few, and thetens of hundreds of millions of people
that the post office serves every day.
And this effort was a, was to shinethe light for the people of the
country on what's really drivingall this talk more than talk plans,
(10:29):
proposals, concrete ways to get there,such as in the Wells Fargo report.
Of those who want to privatize to enrichtheir own profit margins and laugh all
the way to the bank at our expense.
So our job partly now, is to sharewith the people of the country
that the threat is serious.
The threat is real, but what's driving it.
(10:50):
It has nothing to do with more efficiency,better service, or anything else.
It has to do with how these private banks,these investment companies, these hedge
funders and these private corporationscan make money off the public institution,
the money that's generated by the usersof the post office, no tax dollars.
And then they're gonna takeit all the way to the bank.
(11:11):
And what happens is prices will go up.
The Wells Fargo report makes itvery clear that's their goal and
that's what they're cheering about.
Service will go down because thenit's gonna be determined on service,
will be determined on whether somebodycan make a quick buck and a profit
workers rights, and benefits andwages will be destroyed and shifted
(11:33):
to the non-union private sector.
And according to the Wells Fargoreport, post offices will close.
So that's what's before us APWU family.
And the more we stay united witheach other, with the other postal
unions and postal workers, with thepeople of the country, all our allies
in the labor movement and beyond.
The more we stay united and themore and more people understand the
(11:55):
threat and where it's coming from.
We're gonna unite and we're gonnacontinue to win and thrive going forward.
We want the post office to be here atleast another 250 years in changing
times, maybe serving the people indifferent ways, but here for the
people of the country and to servetheir needs, in a changing world.
Yes, letter volume is down.
(12:17):
Still very important for thepeople of the country, but
that's an impact of the internet.
And yet packages are explodingbecause of that same internet.
And we want to make sure we're there , andthat management makes better decisions
than they have about the service that thepeople of the country need and deserve.
And based on better service, we shouldbe able to continue to grow even in
(12:39):
these drastically and fundamentally.
Changing times.
So one of the things we're gonna be doingduring this anniversary year, is we're
gonna launch a campaign . It's a pro,it's called a proclamation campaign.
Now, what does that mean?
We're asking all of you.
We're, we're all over the country fromthe most rural outpost to the deepest
(13:00):
urban center , and everything in between.
People trust us.
We know a lot of people, and we representpeople, and we think it's a strength,
who have very different political viewsand cover the entire political spectrum.
And as part of that, we have builtrelationships as postal workers and
our locals and state organizations withmany elected officials at the local
(13:23):
and state and really federal level too.
So what we're looking to do during this,the rest of this anniversary year, is to.
Work with city councils, countycommissions, town select people,
whatever entity you have in yourlocal government to get proclamations.
(13:43):
Honoring the, an, the 250th anniversarylauding the role that the public
postal services played in the lifeof the country and opposing any
efforts to privatize in whole or inpart our wonderful national treasure.
And that's gonna take a littlework, but it's enjoyable work.
Meeting with city councilors,meeting with mayors that we know.
(14:06):
We will share with everybodyaround the country, all our
members, a sample proclamation.
It can be changed, it can be adjusteddepending on the relationships
that you have at the local level.
And this is not a partisan issue.
This is bipartisan.
We can get proclamations who we, inwhatever towns we're in, maybe they
(14:27):
have conservative leadership, maybethey have liberal leadership, maybe
they have something in between.
Maybe they have something tomore extreme, it doesn't matter.
People understand how important thepost office is for their communities.
It's really an anchor of somany communities historically.
But now, still an anchor of so manycommunities throughout our country.
(14:49):
So we're asking you to do that.
Get with the city councilors, getwith the mayors, have a conversation.
Figure out how to get it done.
And guess what?
Bring yourselves and your coworkers,and your family members and your
customers to a meeting . And thenonce you get a proclamation, that
is gonna be voted on talk about it.
Make it a news storyin the local newspaper.
(15:10):
Send or encourage customers tosend letters to the editors.
This is all part of making sure that thehearts and minds of the people that are
very much with the post office remain thatway in this challenging and unprecedented
time that we find ourselves in.
So this is gonna make a difference.
The more proclamations we have, thebetter it will be as these billionaire
(15:32):
privatizes try to move to take away whatbelongs to the people of the country.
So we, we, we, we hopeyou'll take on this project.
It's something everybody can work on.
You can get with your local leadershipor your state leadership and say, Hey, I
listened to the podcast and I think thisis a great idea, and I volunteer to help.
Can we do something?
(15:53):
I'm happy to go to a meeting withthe mayor who I happen to know,
or I put a yard sign in in myyard when the election was on.
Or that city councilthat sits, , sits there.
I went to high school, with.
Or I'm part of the, veterans organizationor the community group, or the PTA
and so use all of those connectionsto go out there and organize public
(16:16):
opinion ever stronger to make surethat the post office is full, the
public post office as it continues tohave the full support of the people.
So that's part of our happy anniversarypostal system postal workers,
most importantly, and we thinkit's gonna make a huge difference.
As, as we face a challenging future wherethese privatizes really want to pick
(16:38):
the pockets of the people of the countrydestroy our unions and our union rights
and destroy our decent union jobs with it.
So folks, as we're organizing andmobilizing against the proposals
and the plans and the actions ofWells Fargo and Wall Street against.
The Public Postal Service and thosebillionaires that want to privatize
(17:00):
us, , we've issued a new ad that's gonna,that's already showing some on tv, but
will mainly be shared with the peopleof the country through social media.
So you have a very important role to playwith that because social media can be
amplified by anybody that's on Facebook.
Instagram , whatever it all is.
And as that amplification takes place,you can play a role in millions and
(17:24):
millions of people seeing the ad.And the ad is an exposure 30 second
exposure of this Wells Fargo equityresearch report cheering on and actually
planning for postal privatization.
So, one, we encourage you towatch the ad. It's on our website.
And on our social media channelsand two, we ask you to try to
(17:48):
spread it wherever you can.
Friends, family, neighbors,community organizations.
And again, this, this ad is really partof the effort to alert the people to
this real threat of privatization andto alert the people of the country of
what's driving the threat, which is WallStreet greed versus the needs of Main
(18:10):
Street and the people of the country.
So a APWU family, I'll close outwith this and we will look forward to
speaking to you again in the not toodistant future on future podcasts.
Happy anniversary, 250 years takingthe torches from the generations,
our ancestors before us, ourancestor postal workers, and be
(18:34):
proud of what you do in this work.
Not always easy; night work,weekend work, holiday work.
Putting up with abusive supervisorsfighting back along the way.
But it's a wonderful service that weprovide the people of the country.
And the 250th anniversary should give ussome perspective that we have beyond going
(18:54):
to work every day and punching the clock.
Without you, there would not bea United States Postal Service.
Without you, the people of the countrywould not get the service that they
need, whether it's medicines toour veterans ballots in the mail.
Greeting cards, love letters, periodicalsinformation, financial transactions, and
of course e-commerce In this day, thatwill work for everybody, not just for
(19:19):
those where a company can make money.
So stand strong.
Onward to the next 250 years APWU Family.
Solidarity forever.
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