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Press Release: Bay Area Activists to confront Postmaster General at Moscone West: “Stop destroying our public Postal Service!”
Bay Area Activists will rally on Monday March 18 from 9:15 AM to 11:00 AM at Moscone Center West, north-west corner of Howard and Fourth Streets, San Francisco, where U. S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is scheduled to give the Keynote Address at the National Postal Forum at 10:00 a.m.
The Bay Area public is outraged that Donahoe is promoting the step-by-step dismantling and privatization of our public Post Office. The Postal Service has been delivering the mail since before the United States was founded, is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and was once a cabinet office that was held by Ben Franklin.
Donahoe is also putting up for sale historic buildings that our parents and grandparents paid for in full--locally, the Berkeley Post Office, and over 3,000 post offices nationally. Many of these house New Deal art and act as commercial centers for older downtown areas. CBRE, a realty company headed by Richard Blum, husband of Senator Diane Feinstein, will profit from the sales. Once the buildings are in private hands, the public art is no longer accessible, and the fate of the building can range from abandonment, destruction or redevelopment.
Organizing the protest is Save the People’s Post Office, a broad coalition of labor and community groups including S.F. Labor Council, Senior & Disability Action, Church Women United, Gray Panthers, Green Party, Living Wage Coalition, and the Save the Berkeley Post Office committee. Local postal unions, American Postal Workers and Mail Handlers, are co-sponsors.
They are demanding that Donahoe:
1. Keep 6-day delivery of the mail, door-to-door! 2. Stop the sale of our historic Post Office buildings, including Berkeley’s main post office! 3. Stop the privatization and contracting-out of our public Post Office services! 4. Stop imposing delays in mail service! 5. Stop irresponsible closing of post offices and mail processing plants! 6. Maintain universal mail service at uniform rates to all parts of the country! 7. In this time of high unemployment, preserve liveable wage postal jobs that our communities depend on!
Similar labor-community coalitions have been organized in New York, southern California, Oregon, Greensboro NC, Chicago, Washington DC, and some 24 other localities across the country.
The movement is growing rapidly, with protests, marches and even Post Office occupations occurring in many cities – all determined to stop the planned destruction of the public Post Office.
For more information, go to www.savethepostoffice.com
CONTACT:
David Welsh
