Postal workers and their allies in Congress are vowing to fight back after the new head of the U.S. Postal Servicea major donor to President Donald Trump and the Republican Partymoved this week to impose sweeping changes to the popular government agency as it faces a financial crisis manufactured by lawmakers and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Postmaster General (PMG) Louis DeJoy, who took charge last month, issued memos announcing "major operational changes" to the USPS "that could slow down mail delivery, warning employees the agency would not survive unless it made 'difficult' changes to cut costs."
"With our states now reliant on mail voting to continue elections during the pandemic, the destabilizing of the post office is a direct attack on American democracy itself." Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr.
"Analysts say the documents present a stark reimagining of the USPS that could chase away customersespecially if the White House gets the steep package rate increases it wantsand put the already beleaguered agency in deeper financial peril as private-sector competitors embark on hiring sprees to build out their own delivery networks," the Post noted.
According to the internal USPS memos (pdf) obtained by the Post, "DeJoy told employees to leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delayed letter carriers from their routes," a change critics said could threaten access to absentee ballots at a time when vote-by-mail is more important than ever.
"If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day," reads a document titled, "New PMG's expectations and plan."