The demonstration was one of several taking place across the nation in recent weeks as details of U.S. Postal Service consolidation proposals are becoming public.
Postal Service managers in Washington are planning to consolidate a large number of mail processing and distribution centers across the county. If they succeed, parts of many of these facilities will be shut down and moved far from the communities they serve — in some cases more than 100 miles.
"If this plan is implemented, it would gut and consolidate nearly 140 postal facilities across the country," said Jerry Sirois, president of the Minneapolis local of the American Postal Workers Union. Under the proposal, the main post offices in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Mankato would be closed and operations consolidated into one facility in Eagan, the union said.
The union predicts delays in service, with mail that used to be delivered in two or three days taking five or six days. Mail may be delivered later in the day or collected earlier.
The union said the changes are being driven by large corporate mailers who presort their advertising. They want lower rates at the expense of residential and small businesses customers, Sirois said.
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| Members of the American Postal Workers Union were joined by many several supporters in chilly noontime picketing at the downtown Minneapolis post office. |
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"The people that make the money and big business will not be paying," said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron, speaking at the march. "This is a cost shift from business to the worker.
"This is the Postal Service, not the Secret Service," Waldron added. "They went behind closed doors, had a meeting that nobody knows about and cut the service here in this great state of Minnesota and the country."
Postal managers "have not been able to produce any definitive documentation or figures that would support that it would actually save money and not suffer a reduction in service," said Minneapolis Postal Worker Peggy Whitney. "Additionally, there have been reports by the GAO (Government Accounting Office) and economists to the Postal Rate Commission that have shown exactly the opposite result if these types of consolidations were to take place."
In a statement, APWU President William Burrus said Postal Workers are speaking out to protect service for all Americans.
"By galvanizing community support of citizens, we are forcing the Postal Service to rethink these ill-advised plans, and our elected officials to question what is being done to a valued constituent service," Burrus said. "These informational pickets are an opportunity to express our concerns and to let citizens express theirs.
"Nov. 7 is another important opportunity to make our voices heard," he said. "We must go to the polls on Election Day and elect leaders that will serve the American people."
For more information
Call a toll-free hotline: 1-8-777-OUR MAIL.
Visit the APWU national website for more on consolidation proposals, www.apwu.org
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The demonstration was one of several taking place across the nation in recent weeks as details of U.S. Postal Service consolidation proposals are becoming public.
Postal Service managers in Washington are planning to consolidate a large number of mail processing and distribution centers across the county. If they succeed, parts of many of these facilities will be shut down and moved far from the communities they serve — in some cases more than 100 miles.
"If this plan is implemented, it would gut and consolidate nearly 140 postal facilities across the country," said Jerry Sirois, president of the Minneapolis local of the American Postal Workers Union. Under the proposal, the main post offices in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Mankato would be closed and operations consolidated into one facility in Eagan, the union said.
The union predicts delays in service, with mail that used to be delivered in two or three days taking five or six days. Mail may be delivered later in the day or collected earlier.
The union said the changes are being driven by large corporate mailers who presort their advertising. They want lower rates at the expense of residential and small businesses customers, Sirois said.
|
| Members of the American Postal Workers Union were joined by many several supporters in chilly noontime picketing at the downtown Minneapolis post office. |
|
"The people that make the money and big business will not be paying," said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron, speaking at the march. "This is a cost shift from business to the worker.
"This is the Postal Service, not the Secret Service," Waldron added. "They went behind closed doors, had a meeting that nobody knows about and cut the service here in this great state of Minnesota and the country."
Postal managers "have not been able to produce any definitive documentation or figures that would support that it would actually save money and not suffer a reduction in service," said Minneapolis Postal Worker Peggy Whitney. "Additionally, there have been reports by the GAO (Government Accounting Office) and economists to the Postal Rate Commission that have shown exactly the opposite result if these types of consolidations were to take place."
In a statement, APWU President William Burrus said Postal Workers are speaking out to protect service for all Americans.
"By galvanizing community support of citizens, we are forcing the Postal Service to rethink these ill-advised plans, and our elected officials to question what is being done to a valued constituent service," Burrus said. "These informational pickets are an opportunity to express our concerns and to let citizens express theirs.
"Nov. 7 is another important opportunity to make our voices heard," he said. "We must go to the polls on Election Day and elect leaders that will serve the American people."
For more information
Call a toll-free hotline: 1-8-777-OUR MAIL.
Visit the APWU national website for more on consolidation proposals, www.apwu.org