Budget cuts don’t deliver: USPS rallies set for Saturday

You gotta fight for your right to postage.

This Saturday, Aug. 22, small rallies will be held nationwide outside post offices to advocate for the United States Postal Service in the face of what organizers have deemed intentional sabotage from President Donald Trump and his recently appointed Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy. Jennifer Sigmon, president of a Reynoldsburg chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, is asking Columbus residents to come out and show their support.

“You don’t want changes to your service. A lot of people depend on the post office for different things as far as medications, checks, letters, packages,” said Sigmon.

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Sigmon will be attending a rally hosted at the Whitehall Post Office, which lists three major demands: the resignation of DeJoy, the reconvening of the Senate to pass the Heroes Act, and more absentee ballot drop-off boxes to lighten the load of mail-in ballots on the USPS.

The rallies are backed by national activist organization MoveOn, the NAACP, the Service Employees International Union, among others and are being held in response to cost-saving measures and changes in policy at the USPS, including the removal of mailboxes and sorting machines, and the limiting of overtime for staff.

“You go to a station, and there’s only one clerk and you got a line out the door and you gotta wait 15 or 20 minutes to mail something,” she said.

Sigmon said these measures could cause delays in deliveries and increased shipping prices that will hurt all Americans. She cited the Postal Service’s essential role in delivering medications, in addition to the massive spike in online shopping this year. Package deliveries were up 100% from last year, she said.

Sigmon said the best thing people can do to support USPS workers is contact their congressperson and senator and encourage them to support postal workers. The rally will include information on how to contact representatives and what demands residents should make.

“These are the people you see every day. So when it comes to government agencies, we’re the ones that come through for people,” said Sigmon. “We always deliver the mail, we never leave mail behind. People depend on us.”
Supporters can learn more and find a local rally at savethepostoffice.net. Most rallies are being held Saturday at 11 a.m.

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