End of 6-Day Delivery Could Be Start of Privatization, Warns Local Letter Carrier Leader

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s plan to end Saturday delivery could be an attempt to prod Congress to act or it could be the beginning of privatization of the nation’s postal service, says NALC 3825 Branch President Ken Lerch. “If they really abolish Saturday service, I think we’d see the complete privatization of the postal service within five years,” Lerch warned. NALC President Fredric Rolando called it “a disastrous idea that would have a profoundly negative effect on the Postal Service and on millions of customers,” adding that “It would be particularly harmful to small businesses, rural communities, the elderly, the disabled and others who depend on Saturday delivery for commerce and communication.” Saying that “Slowing mail service and degrading our unmatchable last-mile delivery network are not the answers to the Postal Service’s financial problems,” Rolando called for Donahoe to resign if he’s “unwilling or unable to develop a smart growth strategy that serves the nearly 50% of business mailers that want to keep six-day service, and if he arrogantly thinks he is above the law or has the right to decide policy matters that should be left to Congress.” - photo: Dec, 2012 hunger strike to save six day postal service; photo by Julia Kann