USPS plans to cut thousands of jobs in the next 30 days
The U.S. Postal Service said it expects to cut 10,000 employees. USPS offered voluntary early retirement to those employees.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — President of Local American Postal Workers Union 7035, Leonard Dennison, said he and several coworkers are among the 10,000 USPS workers offered early retirement in turn for their jobs in the next 30 days.
He’s worried that if all 10,000 of those people go, the postal service will be slower and even more short-staffed.
Dennison thinks it’s a horrible idea, “what affects us will affect everyone in the country.”
There are more than 600,000 USPS workers right now. The cuts amount to 1.5% of its total workforce.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who’s a Greensboro native, is working with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, to make these cuts.
“The mail is there… the staffing is not. They don’t have the people to staff the buildings and get the mail in and out in an orderly and timely fashion. So, getting rid of 10,000 people… the math doesn’t work,” Dennison said.
Dennison was offered early retirement, “I opted not to put in for it. I had my time. I had my years in but I opted not to go for it.”
He said although he understands why many will take that offer, he can’t go out that way. Dennison is a third generation postal worker.
“My grandfather worked for the postal service through the recession, my father after him, I came in to the same building that my father retired from, one year after he left, so, I have a lot of pride in the postal service,” Dennison said.
There’s also been talk about possibly privatizing the postal service. The National Association of Letter Carriers firmly disagrees with that idea and so does Dennison.
“U.S. mail is not for sale. Don’t come after it. I’m gonna fight you,” Dennison said.
This isn’t the first time USPS has seen job cuts in the thousands. The service cut 30,000 jobs back in 2021 to reduce operating costs.