TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Los trabajadores del U.S. Postal Service (Servicio Postal de los Estados Unidos) de Florida manifiestan preocupación sobre cambios operativos innecesarios que se están dando, y que se convierten en retrasos significativos en la entrega del correo.

Les preocupa que esas irregularidades y las directrices del Director General de Correos ("Postmaster General") Louis DeJoy afecten para siempre la reputación de la agencia más confiable del país.

Las Uniones que representan a los trabajadores postales de Florida hacen un llamado al director general de Correos solicitándole que revierta permanentemente los cambios que han causado retrasos en el correo, y hacen un llamado al Congreso para que apoye igual que apoya a las corporaciones.

Wanda Harris, presidenta del Área Local 172 de la Unión Americana de Trabajadores de Correos en Miami (Miami Area Local 172, American Postal Workers Union). Afirma que trata de explicar que los cambios están fuera de su control, pero eso no detiene las fuertes protestas de los veteranos y propietarios de pequeñas empresas que son abandonados en el limbo.

"La gente mayor no puede ni recibir sus cheques a tiempo, dependen de un ingreso fijo que les llega los días primero, el tres y el cinco. Ahora tienen que esperar sus cheques. Eso es suficiente para hacerles sentir que su vida ya terminó, no es justo."

El Director General de Correos, Louis DeJoy, anunció que revertirá la reducción del equipo y las horas de oficina, y quitará las cajas de correo hasta después de la elección de noviembre. El sábado el U.S. House aprobó la "Ley Entregando por América" (Delivering for America Act), la que aporta 25 billones de dólares en fondos adicionales para la agencia, y elimina los cambios recientes que implementó DeJoy. Ahora la ley va rumbo al Senado, de mayoría Republicana.

Al Friendman, de la Asociación de Portadores de Cartas del Estado de Florida (Florida State Association of Letter Carriers") dice que durante ya demasiado tiempo la agencia más confiable del país ha sido pasada por alto por sufrir los mismos problemas que los negocios y las corporaciones golpeadas por factores como la pandemia.

"¿Por qué dimos un paquete de estímulos a American Airlines, Delta, United, Southwest, porque la reducción de ingresos y el esfuerzo por mantener empleados a sus trabajadores, ¿verdad? ¿Y qué tiene eso de diferente con el servicio postal? Estamos perdiendo entre tres y cuatro millones de dólares diarios por todo el tiempo extra forzado."

El líder de la mayoría en el senado, Mitch McConnell, dijo a los reporteros que el Senado muy posiblemente no pasaría una iniciativa (bill) que sólo cubre al Servicio Postal. En vez de eso, los Republicanos en el Senado planean introducir un "pequeño" estímulo de paquete por coronavirus que podría incluir $10 millones asignados al USPS, y $300 en beneficios semanales por desempleo.

Los trabajadores sindicalizados dicen que eso no es suficiente para una solución de largo plazo y restaurar la calma a una agencia que alguna vez fue reconocida por confiable.

Pennsylvania's landscape is undergoing a transformation, paid for with billions in federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The state is expected to receive more than $13 billion over five years for highways and bridges.

David Gunshore described himself as a "semiretired inspector," working on a bridge project in Clarks Summit and said it's being paid for 100% by federal dollars. Gunshore said the crumbling bridge was built in 1959 and last rehabbed in 1983, and stands 65 feet above railroad tracks.

"Like a lot of the concrete, it rots out and it falls, that means it deteriorates and breaks out," Gunshore explained. "So you cut all that out, and you re-patch it with new stuff, so that the rot can't go any deeper into the pillars. We're redoing the bridge deck and the piers, the pillars, the columns that hold it up."

Gunshore estimated the bridge project will be finished by next fall. As of March of this year, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law had allocated more than $15 billion to Pennsylvania, for more than 450 projects. Of those funds, $6.7 billion are for highways and just over $1 billion for bridges.

Gunshore pointed out in his years on the job, the construction industry seems to have struggled more under Republican administrations but thrived during President Bill Clinton's tenure and with the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act during Barack Obama's presidency to fix roads and transit lines. Gunshore thinks it has been money well spent, noting the Biden-Harris administration's support for construction, manufacturing and apprenticeship programs.

"Big government spends the money but you're building roads, people get jobs, and money goes into the economy, and you're still ending up with new roads and new infrastructure," Gunshore emphasized. "I think that's one of the best investments going, that and health care, because the better the health care, the less people are going to get sick."

Gunshore noted the last major federal project he worked on, the Twin Bridges project, is underway to replace two mainline bridges in Lackawanna County. He added there is a lot of work to be done and jobs are available for the project.


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Nebraska is one of four states with measures about state funding of private-school vouchers on the ballot this year. Referendum 435 asks voters to decide whether to repeal the school voucher program passed on the last day of the 2024 legislative session.

Backers of the law claim vouchers are needed by low-income families who can't otherwise afford to send their children to a private school. But studies show that in a number of states, most who benefit from school vouchers are not from low-income families.

Tim Royers, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, said this has been borne out in Iowa.

"In Iowa, for example, who just implemented their voucher system last year," he said, "the median income for the voucher recipients is roughly $120,000."

Iowa data also show that more than two-thirds of the students using vouchers had already been attending a private school.

Another of NSEA's objections is that the law doesn't benefit all of Nebraska, since more than half the counties have no private schools. Critics of the voucher programs say they siphon state funds away from the public school system.

Royers said choice is fine - as long as it's publicly accountable choice.

"As long as private schools can discriminate and deny certain children admission; as long as they don't have to follow the same testing and reporting requirement that we do, we just don't feel public tax dollars should go to those institutions," he said.

Arizona's private-school voucher program has ballooned in scope and cost, and contributed to the need for significant state budget cuts. Dave Wells, research director at the Grand Canyon Institute, a "centrist think tank" in Phoenix, says Arizona's voucher program means the state is essentially supporting two school systems - public and private.

"In Arizona, we can't afford to do that, and it's had really negative impacts," he said. "And I think it has especially negative impacts on rural areas where there aren't private schools even to pick from. And the people who benefit the most from this are people who can already afford to go to private schools, is what we've found in Arizona."

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are trying to appeal to labor groups on the campaign trail.

A much-debated policy blueprint is lighting a fire under Minnesota unions, who warn about the threat to workers. Republicans, including Trump, have tried to distance themselves from Project 2025, a wish list of policy moves drafted by a conservative think tank. But attempts to disavow the project are not easing the concerns of those opposed to it, including the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, which represents more than 15,000 state government workers.

Megan Dayton, president of the union, found the overall tone from Trump and his advisers troubling.

"This plan promises to dismantle government services," Dayton pointed out. "Donald Trump wants to privatize the Department of Veterans Affairs. This really hits home for us in Minnesota and for MAPE because we have members who help veterans receive specialized care."

Project 2025 lays out a number of union-related reforms, including regulations dealing with overtime rules. In 2018, Trump signed executive orders weakening unions' ability to negotiate contracts and cut hours union reps were able to tend to member complaints. While the former president downplays connections to the plan's authors, other conservatives argued the initiative is about government accountability.

The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and other Minnesota unions, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5, argued the conservative vision under Project 2025 aligns with broader efforts to chip away at individual rights. Dayton noted like so many other populations, it affects their members.

"They (conservatives) are consolidating power by removing the checks and balances that I think have defined our republic since its founding," Dayton asserted.

On a national scale, Harris has the backing of a number of key unions, including the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers. However, the International Association of Firefighters and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse anyone in the presidential election.