On June 30, the APWU denounced plans by the Postal
Service to resume the closure and consolidation of up to
82 mail processing plants beginning in January 2015.
“This is a direct assault on service to the people of the
country, on postal workers and on the Postal Service’s
own network,” said union President Mark Dimondstein.
The closure of the plants will require the USPS to
degrade service standards and delay mail.
“We need a Postmaster General who will champion
the Postal Service. Instead, PMG Donahoe is on a
rampage to destroy it,” he said.
Employees who are reassigned outside their installa
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tion are expected to move on Jan. 10, 2015, the USPS
said in a June 30 letter to the APWU. Union leaders
received the USPS letter via fax, just minutes before
employees were informed of management’s plans.
Muster a Fight-Back
The APWU president vowed to work with other
postal unions and the public “to muster a fight-back
similar to our campaign to
Stop Staples
and the recent
campaign to protect six-day mail delivery.” The House
Appropriations Committee voted on June 25 to reinstate
a provision requiring six-day mail delivery in a funding
bill. A week earlier a House subcommittee had approved
a bill that dropped – for the first time in more than three
decades – the six-day delivery requirement.
The 82 facilities were among 242 sites targeted for
closure in September 2011 and February 2012, and most
of them were partially consolidated in 2012 and 2013.
“These plants are suffering from last year’s hit,”
said Executive Vice President Debby Szeredy. “Now
the delays in mail delivery will become even longer,
damaging service to individuals, small businesses, and
mailers.”
Ignoring the Possibilities
The Postal Service claims the plant closures will
generate $750 million in annual savings. “Yet he is
ignoring a report by the USPS Office of Inspector
General that says the Postal Service could generate
$9 billion by offering basic financial services without
any cuts to traditional postal service,” Szeredy said.
“Something is wrong with this mentality.”
“The Postmaster General also neglects to mention that
the USPS earned a profit from operations in fiscal year
2013 and in the first two quarters of 2014,” she added.
Donahoe claims that there have been steep declines
in first-class mail, Szeredy pointed out, “yet he fails to
tell the public that the USPS has already given away 60
percent of first-class mail processing to Pitney Bowes
and other pre-sort houses.”
“The APWU headquarters will release a major battle
plan to stop the consolidations and the attack on service
because the future of the USPS depends on it,” the
union vice president said. “We will make this fight a
nationwide campaign and ask all Americans to stand
up and fight back.”
“Get ready for the crusade. We cannot sit back and
let the PMG destroy our Postal Service,” she said
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