APWU Rallies at Wall Street to Say "U.S. Mail is Not for Sale!"

On Thursday, the American Postal Workers Union led by members of the NY Metro Area Postal Union rallied outside the Wells Fargo Bank at 7th Ave and W. 39th St. to protest Wall Street’s efforts to privatize the U.S. Postal Service. Wells Fargo has led the charge with a corporate blueprint that threatens good union jobs and public mail service. Together with supporters including the NYC CLC, workers sent a clear message: the U.S. Mail is not for sale!

Earlier this week the American Postal workers Union (APWU) launched a national advertising campaign to alert the public about proposed plans to privatize the public Postal Service. The ad called “Memo” highlights a documentsent by Wells Fargo Equity Research to investors detailing how proposed plans by the White House to privatize postal services would lead to the closing of local post offices, skyrocketing price hikes to send a letter or package, and an end to the “Universal Service Obligation” where mail is delivered six and sometimes seven times a week to 169 million addresses.

In its report to investors, Wells Fargo says a privatized USPS would be forced to raise prices “30 to 140 percent across its product lines” and that many local post offices would be closed and real estate sold so that “value can be harvested.”

Watch video from Thursday's rally here (rally coverage starts at 7:45).