ENLARGE PHOTO Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Chanting the words “Hey, hey, ho, ho, consolidation has got to go,” U.S. Postal Service workers walk up Celina Avenue in Nashua on Thursday, picketing outside the postal distribution center. Order this photo

Holding signs and marching in front of the mail distribution center on Celina Avenue, a group of off-duty postal workers picketed Thursday to raise awareness of a U.S. Postal Service plan to consolidate postal facilities across the country – a move workers say will significantly delay mail to communities.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, consolidation has got to go!” the large group of American Postal Workers Union members shouted throughout the afternoon – some using bullhorns – holding signs that read, “Save Our Service.”

As part of what they called the National Day of Picketing, more than 100 union members from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut came to Nashua to form the picket line.

While the Postal Service says no post offices in New Hampshire are in danger of closing, union members banded together because they say they fear closings could happen locally.

“It’s only going to lead to closing small post offices that don’t make any money,” said Stephen Lukosus, of Danvers, Mass., the New Hampshire business agent for the APWU.

And older people need the little post offices, added Kathleen Metzler, a registered nurse from Peterborough, who was picketing to support her husband, Dale, a postal worker at the Nashua distribution center.

“This postal service is all about everyone, even the little old ladies out in the sticks,” she said. “Once consolidation starts, it spreads like a disease.”

Mike Egan, president of the Manchester Area Local APWU, agreed. He said the plan, developed in Washington will help big corporate special interests including advertising mailers who presort their mail, at the expense of local business owners and regular people.Union members say the Postal Service wants to consolidate 139 facilities nationwide, and plans to downsize were developed behind closed doors without community input and without concern for community impact.

“All of what’s been going on, the public isn’t even aware of,” said Frank Rigiero, national business agent for the clerk division of the New England Region of APWU.

Todd Skulnik, district communication coordinator for the Postal Service in New Hampshire and Vermont, said planned changes to combine operations are because of the continuing decline of first-class mail volume.

As more people use online bill pay, fewer people are sending out stamped mail. The Postal Service has seen a diversion of 11 billion pieces of first-class mail since 1988, Skulnik said.

The objective is to operate the Postal Service as efficiently as possible, he added.

“Consolidation makes sense,” Skulnik said. “We just don’t have to process as much stamped mail as we used to.”

The changes should be seamless for most customers, Skulnik said, adding that New Hampshire is not slated for consolidations.

“There’s always a small possibility that some of the consolidations across the country may result in a very minor service decline for some classes of mail, but those are often offset by improvements in other mail classes,” Skulnik said. “We’re always looking to maintain and improve service.”

While picketers said 139 processing plants – including one in Portsmouth – was on a list slated for consolidation, Skulnik said that information was incorrect.

“There are about a dozen processing plants being reviewed,” Skulnik said. “Reviewing them is not an automatic cause for changing anything.

“The one in Portsmouth was reviewed and taken off the list.”

Skulnik said consolidations wouldn’t necessarily result in reduced hours or lost jobs. Union members would simply be moved to another facility, he said.

But people like Dale Metzler, who has worked for the Postal Service for close to 20 years, including the past five years in Nashua, doesn’t want that to happen.

“They can close down plants and I can be (sent) wherever they want to put me,” he said.

The system in place allows for public input when the consolidation study is complete, Skulnik said, adding that unions have been informed every step of the way.

“This was not hidden from anybody,” Skulnik said.

Karen Spiller can be reached at 594-6446 or kspiller@nashuatelegraph.com.