SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A postal worker gives a thumbs-up to demonstrators protesting the Trump administration's sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service on August 22, 2020 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images for MoveOn)
Dems Join Climate Groups Outside Postal Service HQ to Demand Fleet Electrification
"We can act now to protect our planet and our Postal Service by tearing up Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's gas-guzzling deal and putting a forever stamp on a fleet of all-electric postal trucks," said Sen. Ed Markey.
Apr 06, 2022
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday joined with labor leaders and climate action advocates outside the U.S. Postal Service headquarters, where they demanded that the Louis DeJoy-led agency rethink its plan to buy new gas-powered delivery trucks and instead commit to a union-made, electric fleet.
"Postmaster DeJoy's contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward."
"A zero-emission fleet would save money and combat the climate crisis," said the BlueGreen Alliance, one of the groups behind the "Build it union, deliver it emission-free" rally in Washington, D.C.
At issue is the USPS contract with Oshkosh Defense to replace its existing vehicles.
The initial order of the 10-year plan for the next generation delivery vehicles (NGDVs) is for 50,000 vehicles, about 10,000 of which will be electric. The whole contract only calls for a minimum of 10% of the vehicles to be electric over the decade period.
Beyond climate and public health concerns--which sparked demands for an inspector general probe into the contract--the revelation that Oshkosh plans to build the trucks not in Wisconsin, where it is based, but in anti-union South Carolina has drawn criticism as well.
Event organizers called the plan to build the trucks "in a newly purchased warehouse in South Carolina... a blatant move by Oshkosh to evade a decades-old contract with UAW workers in Wisconsin who are ready and eager to build the delivery vehicles of the future."
\u201cWe can act now to protect our planet and our postal service by tearing up Postmaster General Louis DeJoy\u2019s gas-guzzling deal and putting a forever stamp on a fleet of all-electric postal trucks. https://t.co/NAPWq6bExz\u201d— Ed Markey (@Ed Markey) 1649252220
Speakers at the rally--where over 150,000 petitions to the USPS Board of Governors were symbolically delivered--included Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz, and UAW vice president Cindy Estrada.
"Outside USPS headquarters this morning to keep up the fight for a new fleet of delivery vehicles that's at least 75% electric," tweeted Connolly, who has proposed a bill to require that. "Postmaster DeJoy's contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward."
The rally came a day after a U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing focused on the environmental and cost benefits of the postal fleet switching to electric.
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who also spoke at Wednesday's rally, pointed in her opening remarks to the hearing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report out this week underscoring the need to transition away from fossil fuels.
"This Congress must help the world avert a climate disaster by moving from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles now," she said.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday joined with labor leaders and climate action advocates outside the U.S. Postal Service headquarters, where they demanded that the Louis DeJoy-led agency rethink its plan to buy new gas-powered delivery trucks and instead commit to a union-made, electric fleet.
"Postmaster DeJoy's contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward."
"A zero-emission fleet would save money and combat the climate crisis," said the BlueGreen Alliance, one of the groups behind the "Build it union, deliver it emission-free" rally in Washington, D.C.
At issue is the USPS contract with Oshkosh Defense to replace its existing vehicles.
The initial order of the 10-year plan for the next generation delivery vehicles (NGDVs) is for 50,000 vehicles, about 10,000 of which will be electric. The whole contract only calls for a minimum of 10% of the vehicles to be electric over the decade period.
Beyond climate and public health concerns--which sparked demands for an inspector general probe into the contract--the revelation that Oshkosh plans to build the trucks not in Wisconsin, where it is based, but in anti-union South Carolina has drawn criticism as well.
Event organizers called the plan to build the trucks "in a newly purchased warehouse in South Carolina... a blatant move by Oshkosh to evade a decades-old contract with UAW workers in Wisconsin who are ready and eager to build the delivery vehicles of the future."
\u201cWe can act now to protect our planet and our postal service by tearing up Postmaster General Louis DeJoy\u2019s gas-guzzling deal and putting a forever stamp on a fleet of all-electric postal trucks. https://t.co/NAPWq6bExz\u201d— Ed Markey (@Ed Markey) 1649252220
Speakers at the rally--where over 150,000 petitions to the USPS Board of Governors were symbolically delivered--included Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz, and UAW vice president Cindy Estrada.
"Outside USPS headquarters this morning to keep up the fight for a new fleet of delivery vehicles that's at least 75% electric," tweeted Connolly, who has proposed a bill to require that. "Postmaster DeJoy's contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward."
The rally came a day after a U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing focused on the environmental and cost benefits of the postal fleet switching to electric.
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who also spoke at Wednesday's rally, pointed in her opening remarks to the hearing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report out this week underscoring the need to transition away from fossil fuels.
"This Congress must help the world avert a climate disaster by moving from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles now," she said.
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday joined with labor leaders and climate action advocates outside the U.S. Postal Service headquarters, where they demanded that the Louis DeJoy-led agency rethink its plan to buy new gas-powered delivery trucks and instead commit to a union-made, electric fleet.
"Postmaster DeJoy's contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward."
"A zero-emission fleet would save money and combat the climate crisis," said the BlueGreen Alliance, one of the groups behind the "Build it union, deliver it emission-free" rally in Washington, D.C.
At issue is the USPS contract with Oshkosh Defense to replace its existing vehicles.
The initial order of the 10-year plan for the next generation delivery vehicles (NGDVs) is for 50,000 vehicles, about 10,000 of which will be electric. The whole contract only calls for a minimum of 10% of the vehicles to be electric over the decade period.
Beyond climate and public health concerns--which sparked demands for an inspector general probe into the contract--the revelation that Oshkosh plans to build the trucks not in Wisconsin, where it is based, but in anti-union South Carolina has drawn criticism as well.
Event organizers called the plan to build the trucks "in a newly purchased warehouse in South Carolina... a blatant move by Oshkosh to evade a decades-old contract with UAW workers in Wisconsin who are ready and eager to build the delivery vehicles of the future."
\u201cWe can act now to protect our planet and our postal service by tearing up Postmaster General Louis DeJoy\u2019s gas-guzzling deal and putting a forever stamp on a fleet of all-electric postal trucks. https://t.co/NAPWq6bExz\u201d— Ed Markey (@Ed Markey) 1649252220
Speakers at the rally--where over 150,000 petitions to the USPS Board of Governors were symbolically delivered--included Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Sierra Club president Ramon Cruz, and UAW vice president Cindy Estrada.
"Outside USPS headquarters this morning to keep up the fight for a new fleet of delivery vehicles that's at least 75% electric," tweeted Connolly, who has proposed a bill to require that. "Postmaster DeJoy's contract for thousands of gas-guzzling vehicles cannot go forward."
The rally came a day after a U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing focused on the environmental and cost benefits of the postal fleet switching to electric.
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who also spoke at Wednesday's rally, pointed in her opening remarks to the hearing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report out this week underscoring the need to transition away from fossil fuels.
"This Congress must help the world avert a climate disaster by moving from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles now," she said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.