Mar 23, 2025 –PITTSBURGH —Letter carriers in Pittsburgh participated in a nationwide rally Sunday in an effort to protect the United States Postal Service from what they say President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts and privatization could do to the organization and its workers.
The rally was held by the local union of Branch 84 alongside the National Association of Letter Carriers in the North Shore, which represents 2,800 carries in Allegheny, Washington, and Beaver counties.
“We’re here to gather together to say no,” Paul Rozzi, president of the Pennsylvania State Association of Letter Carriers, told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4. “We don’t want any of those things to happen. It doesn’t only affect us, but it affects every patron.”
The rallies across the nation come as Trump proposed moving the U.S. Postal Service under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover of the agency, which has operated as an independent entity since 1970.
Trump made the remarks at the swearing-in of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. He called the move a way to stop losses at the $78 billion-a-year agency, which has struggled to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail.
“We hope that the Trump administration hears this message and we’re not at war, but we’re prepared to fight like hell,” president of Branch 84 National Association of Letter Carriers of Pittsburgh Ted Lee said.
USPS says about 640,000 people would be affected by these changes if passed.
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