Bleeding Out: The USPS Crisis and the Suffering of its Workers

The United States Postal Service is the largest delivery service in the US, commanding a parcel volume larger than UPS, FedEx, and Amazon [1], and a key piece of logistics infrastructure as an “independent” arm of the US executive branch. It’s also been a point of struggle for hundreds of thousands of workers who have been subject to its continuous degradation. What’s happening in the wake of the contemporary international economic crisis? How did we get here? And what must we do?

Background: The Letter Carrier Strike

The letter carrier strike of the 1970’s is the foundation for the USPS as we understand it. At the time, postal workers were still organized into reactionary craft unions, and as a federal agency, they were legally barred from collective bargaining [2]. Wages had become severely depressed and conditions were unbearable. With workers hungry and being worked to the bone, a minuscule wage increase passed by Congress became the slap in the face that would spark a series of wildcat strikes that quickly spread across the entire country [3]. The strike would end with wage increases and a tentative agreement, and a finalized contract a month later, and would also see the passing of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. The act would transform the US Post Office Department into the US postal service and grant collective bargaining rights while still withholding the legal right to strike. This would also be followed by the merging and reforming of the unions representing these workers.

There’s multiple items to take away from this: Firstly the transformation of the old US Post Office Department into the USPS would see that the organization would be responsible for acquiring its own funding, and while it is not privately owned and thus its profits were for its own maintenance This added an additional pressure point, as now it wasn’t a matter of how much tax funding is being directed, it was now responsible for operating like a business, overtime, increase prices across its service to do so. Secondly, besides this fundamental reformation, the other notable change was receiving the right to collectively bargain (without the right to strike.) While the reformist trade union organizations (the AFL-CIO and the APWU included in their referenced articles,) say the workers won the right to collectively bargain, we have to consider the fact this was not necessarily the original objective, especially since they already dared to go on strike for better conditions without such a right. It’s correct to say that this workers struggle directly lead to this legal change, but taking notes from the repercussions of the passing of the NLRA, it’s also correct and of important note that the right to collectively bargain was granted to give a method of letting off steam, trying to dampen the militancy of these workers and avoid a situation like this. Finally, the strike itself is possibly the most valuable thing to analyze as it is to this day the largest strike of any government sector to ever happen in the US It was all illegal, Nixon himself sending troops to process mail, labor leaders and union organizations being slapped with fines and injunctions, the workers understood that despite the costs and the struggle, things could not continue the way they were and took action. All of this goes without saying of course that the underlying problem had yet to be resolved, the inherent antagonism between the bourgeoisie and its government, and the working class.

The Contemporary

Over time, we have yet to see the kind of militant action that occurred in the 1970’s despite the fact the workers of the USPS are finding themselves in an increasingly similar position. The so called “independence” of this organization is contradicted by the fact that it’s been subject to rules and legislation intentionally designed to exacerbate the issues surrounding its funding needs, with the only question at any point being the goal in the long term, the conservative wing desiring its privatization and the liberals maintaining it as a tool for capital to take advantage of access to nearly every home in the US at a cheaper rate than any of the private companies could, particularly in the most rural areas where it’s less profitable. (The only notable exception being Trump’s flirtation with folding it into the Department of Commerce, making the long term objective less clear [4]). The bleed of the USPS can be seen manifest in multiple ways, with Louis DeJoy’s appointment under Trump’s first presidency and his 10 year plan [5] having already resulted in slower delivery, overworked employees, and a decrease in access to those same rural areas that only the USPS has been able to cater to and are the most financially strained when private carriers are available. Even the “collective bargaining” as was promised has been exposed for fraud as the 2023-2026 national agreement was overwhelmingly rejected [6]. This took negotiations to arbitration where the letter carriers were ceremoniously stiffed with a contract so despised it inspired protests across the country to the fanfare of NALC president Renfroe being “pleased” with the agreement stating “it only moves us forward” [7].

When approached about this article and his thoughts on the contract, a letter carrier had this to say:

“…I can't just say the whole goddamn thing, but here's the biggest point: 2/3 of the congregation voted no. They then took a poll to find out what the biggest argument points were, which came back to level of pay. Now keep in mind that those polled numbered less than 10% of the congregation. We had just watched The UPS come back with an historic $155,000 for top tier and we all felt that we should be brought in line with those numbers. It's impossible to raise a family of four on less than $100,000 a year anywhere in America, let alone carriers in California who are living out of their cars and having to take showers in Union Halls. This new contract awards a COLA of 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5 per year, these numbers being the only thing changing from the denied trade agreement. All other language that was placed in the contract would not be negotiated or arbitrated. Such as fixed office time, load time, overtime restrictions and limitations. It was supposed to be 8 hours of work, 8 hours of family time, and 8 hours of rest, all making a 24 hour day, but we're going back to 1969 and collective begging is once again happening. However, this go round we do not qualify for food stamps. So our proud carriers are working eight hours on the route and then going and picking up a second or third job just to make ends meet. Further, many of us feel that the arbitration process went poorly. The National President decided that it would be best to have an expedited arbitration with the current political climate and privatization looming. It was generally a rubber stamp scenario. There were two days of mediation, no time for hearings and no time for arbitrator deliberation; which points to the idea that there was no real arbitration. President Brian Renfroe and USPS management simply presented the arbiter with this contract, took some pictures and said an agreement had been made in good faith. Many of the working members feel that article 10 dereliction of duty charges should be raised. Seething like hell, the original contract that was rejected was ratified with only minor changes to pay that amount to nothing. Many of our workers are suffering. I myself am several months behind in bills and starting to worry about losing necessities such as home and vehicle. We are proud workers and we only want what is fair and needed to live not in excess but in comfort, all well having the ability to set aside for our future retirement. But with privatization they are wanting to take away our pensions, health benefits, and dissolve our union. I think that's what truly strikes at the heart of this contract. It's everything that the USPS wanted, nothing that the postman wanted, so it would look good to a larger entity like UPS or Amazon, who will then charge more for the same deliveries and continue feeding the worker scraps. The USPS is a cash cow and we are not funded by tax dollars, we are funded by sales of postal supplies and stamps, and in rural locations we can function as a bank. Further, an Obama era Bill mandated that the USPS fund all pensions 75 years into the future, and was only ended in 2022. This is why we have been hemorrhaging money for the past 20 years and we are only now starting to show a profit again. With that though, this money is gone and postal management has no idea where. This is where DOGE comes into play, they are supposed to track down this money; however, if we are privatized before It's found that money is simply gone.“ (sic)

On the topic of DOGE, it’s not entirely clear as to what its plan is as there is currently no access to the agreement that supposedly prevents DOGE access to private information amongst other things [8], but seeing as it’s been responsible for everything from mass layoffs, shutting down NLRB field offices, and massive data collection schemes through backdoor access and hand-shaking agreements, it’s undoubtedly anti-worker. Meanwhile with everything in motion and DeJoy’s assignments underway, he’s announced his planned departure.

Only The Workers

It’s worth going through various paths being presented to the USPS in the mainstream. Obviously we are watching its current trajectory squeeze the life out of itself so staying the course simply isn’t an option. Privatizing it would very obviously be bad for the workers as it blatantly serves to increase the exploitation of the working class for the enrichment of the bourgeoisie.

But what of nationalization? The KKE writes [9]:

“Historically, the view of reforming of capitalism into socialism was based on the phenomenon that the bourgeois state assumed, to a large extent, sectors of the economic activity by founding state monopolies or by the nationalization of some of them. In reality, it was an activity in support of capitalist development, either during periods where the formation of infrastructure is necessary in order to help capitalist activity, capitalist accumulation, (e.g. the formation of railway network in France and Germany of the 19th century etc), or in periods of war preparation (1st and 2nd World War) or in periods after large-scale destruction of forces of production (post-war reconstruction in Europe).”

This being just as true today where coincidentally, as we’re seeing drastic shifts with the USPS, Amazon has grown its own delivery capacity, including those in rural areas, allowing it to overtake UPS in volume, something that may have been predictable but hardly in view even 10 years ago, thanks to its very early reliance on the USPS infrastructure. While UPS/USPS “NSA” agreement where USPS is no longer delivering SurePost packages [10]. Furthermore, postal volume is still pushed through UPS and FedEx facilities for air transportation. This very ebb and flow we’ve witnessed with the USPS and the burden it’s put on the workers all boils down to capital’s needs at any given time.

This leaves us with any real option requiring us to look beyond the question of “what should we do/what will happen to the Postal Service,” and instead we need to take a class-analytical approach. We should absolutely hold the stance that privatizing the USPS serves to transform it into a machine to exploit workers and extract surplus value for the enrichment of the capitalists and must be frustrated against, which at the surface was very consistent with most messaging. But it almost seems to end here as nearly every other organization was very focused on Trump and “stopping his attempts to privatize USPS” as the World “Socialist” Web Site mentions for example [11] but this isn’t necessarily what will happen, it’s hardly an issue exclusive to Trump, and presents absolutely no solution beyond insisting the USPS shouldn’t be private. So if every existing path results in serving the interests of capital at the expense of the workers, then the only viable solution for workers is to seek the revolutionary overthrow of capital, and such a revolution must be built.

The task of the postal workers should be to recognize that their power lies in their capacity to organize, not relying on the benevolence of politicians whose interests overall are in maintaining capitalism. The wildcat strikes of the 1970’s were just that. But there were limitations, as we saw! Unquestionable victory as the direct result of workers struggle, but one that was unable to break beyond the underlying issue. This will require two things; 1. The struggle within the existing, reactionary postal unions and trade union thought, in favor of militancy and class-conscious unionism where class struggle is the binding motivation of every action the workers take. 2. The building of a revolutionary political apparatus to elevate the struggle from simply economism, to the political struggle, where the militancy of the workers is channeled into truly revolutionary activity. Meanwhile, workers MUST continue to struggle against worsening conditions at USPS. Transform these protests into strikes if you must, but the time has come to move on from playing on the terms of capital.

Against Capital’s grip on postal workers! Against exploitation!

Sources

1. Journal, Dana Mattioli and Esther Fung | Photographs by Bryan Anselm for The Wall Street. “WSJ News Exclusive | the Biggest Delivery Business in the U.S. Is No Longer UPS or FedEx.” WSJ, 27 Nov. 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/amazon-vans-outnumber-ups-fedex-750f3c04.
2. APWU. “The Great 1970 Mail Strike That Stunned the Country.” American Postal Workers Union, 28 May 2019, https://apwu.org/news/great-1970-mail-strike-stunned-country.
3. “The Great Postal Strike of 1970 | AFL-CIO.” AFL-CIO, https://aflcio.org/about-us/history/labor-history-events/great-postal-strike.
4. Lo Wang, Hansi. “Postal Workers Conducting the Census Is Part of a Trump Pitch for Taking over USPS.” NPR, 10 Mar. 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/nx-s1-5311969/usps-privatization-trump-commerce-lutnick.
5. Naylor, Brian. “DeJoy Announces 10-Year Reorganization of U.S. Postal Service.” NPR, 23 Mar. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/23/980092945/dejoy-announces-10-year-reorganization-of-u-s-postal-service.
6. Membership rejects tentative collective bargaining agreement. “Membership Rejects Tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement.” National Association of Letter Carriers AFL-CIO, 31 Jan. 2025, https://www.nalc.org/news/nalc-updates/nalc-statement-regarding-rejection-of-tentative-collective-bargaining-agreement.
7. Nolan. “Arbitrator Nolan Issues Award, Sets Terms of the 2023-2026 National Agreement.” National Association of Letter Carriers AFL-CIO, 24 Mar. 2025, https://www.nalc.org/news/nalc-updates/arbitration-nolan-issues-award-sets-terms-of-the-2023-2026-national-agreement.
8. “USPS Head Agrees to Let DOGE Find “Efficiencies” — with Limits to Employee Data Access.” NPR, 14 Mar. 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/nx-s1-5327583/usps-doge-postal-service-louis-dejoy-postmaster-general.
9. “Communist Party of Greece - Theoretical Issues Regarding the Programme of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).” Inter.kke.gr, 2018, https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Theoretical-Issues-regarding-the-Programme-of-the-Communist-Party-of-Greece-KKE/.
10. Muhammad, Mariyam. “The US Postal Service Ended Its Contract with UPS. What Will Happen to Your Packages?” The Columbus Dispatch, 21 Jan. 2025, https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2025/01/21/usps-ups-surepost-ending-partnership-your-packages/77776584007/.
11.  “Emergency Meeting: Stop Trump’s Moves to Privatize USPS! Oppose the Illegitimate NALC Contract!” World Socialist Web Site, 27 Mar. 2025, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/03/27/fkpf-m27.html