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Network Realignment Update
USPS Abandons a Dozen AMPs
(This article first appeared in the March/April 2007 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)
The Postal Service cancelled 12 Area Mail Processing studies early this year, a direct result, APWU President William Burrus said, of the efforts of postal workers and community leaders. “They have demanded that individuals and small businesses continue to receive the postal services they deserve,” he said. “We are pleased that so many of these ill-advised studies have been abandoned.”
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Helena APWU members were spirited if chilled participants in last fall’s “National Day of Picketing” to protest consolidation. |
After announcing the cancellations of three consolidation studies in January, the Postal Service said in a statement on Feb. 9, “it has been determined that there are currently no significant opportunities to improve efficiency or service through consolidation of mail processing operations” in: Carroll, IA; Glenwood Springs, CO; Hutchinson, KS; McCook, NE; Sheridan and Wheatland, WY; Fox Valley, IL; and Bryan and McAllen, TX.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) sent out a news release celebrating the decision in McAllen. “I am pleased that I will still be able to write my friends,” Doggett wrote, referring to his constituents, “without having those letters delayed by a stopover in Corpus Christi.”
APWU’s McAllen Area Local rallied citizens and Chamber of Commerce officials to the cause, and media coverage repeatedly pointed to the Postal Service’s failure to justify re-directing mail away from the booming Rio Grande Valley to a lightly-populated area 160 miles away.
‘Great News for Kinston ’
A study of the area mail-processing facility in Kinston, NC, had determined that consolidation (to Fayetteville, approximately 100 miles away) would not improve service, the Postal Service said on Jan. 5. The AMP study, which was never released, had been announced in October 2005.
After the study had been cancelled, a USPS district manager explained that changing business conditions had prompted the initial research. “Studies such as the one conducted in Kinston,” the Jan. 12 statement said, “allow us to determine where improvements can best be made.” Apparently, they would have been negligible.
Union objections to the plan played an important role in stopping the proposed consolidation. Local President Dale Turner and Vice President Steve Clayborn were interviewed on television early in 2006, and then met with Mayor Buddy Rich, who wrote letters protesting consolidation.
“This is great news for Kinston,” said Rodney K. DeFlumeri, Kinston’s postmaster. “All of our employees will remain here. If the plan had been implemented, a significant number of jobs would have been lost.”
‘A Good Day for Helena ’
“I’m thrilled that Helena will be keeping its postal identity,” Sen.Max Baucus (D) said in a news release on Jan. 11. “It’s common sense for the capitol city to keep its postmark. This is a good day for Helena and for all cities in Montana.”
A full year earlier, the USPS had announced an AMP study to evaluate moving Helena ’s outgoing mail, saying that Great Falls (90 miles away) had greater capacity, which would mean increased efficiency.
The APWU opposed the plan, pointing out that if Helena ’s outgoing mail was sorted in Great Falls , the mail would be picked up earlier and delivered later in Helena and at the area’s 11 smaller post offices. Some of the largest mailers in the state are located in Helena, and the Great Falls facility was thought to already be operating at capacity. The APWU Helena Local actively protested the proposals by working with Sen. Baucus and county commissioners and notifying the press and public.
“It truly is a great day for the APWU and all citizens across the state to retain reliable and timely mail service that we all deserve and demand in Montana ,” said Janet Kosnik, president of the Helena Local. “The efforts by Sen. Baucus, community leaders, and concerned citizens all played important roles in this victory.”
Keeping It Close in Yakima
Saying that the proposed consolidation would not result in improved service or efficiency, the Postal Service announced on Jan. 22 that the AMP study begun in Yakima in December 2005 would not be completed and that the central Washington city would keep its postmark and not lose its mail processing to Pasco, 85 miles away.
James Keck, President of the Yakima Area Local said that although only five full-time jobs were at stake in the USPS realignment plan, it was an important issue for the community. The local had been circulating petitions and had enlisted the assistance of U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings (a Republican from Pasco) and Sen. Patty Murray (D).
On the other side of the country, members of a large Bronx community group are continuing their work to block the move of Bronx-bound mail to a processing plant in Manhattan .
The Coalition to Save Our Post Offices, a group comprising community activists, elected officials, and postal workers, generated media interest in mid-January when it revealed Postal Service plans to shut down the processing facility near Yankee Stadium, and move all “inbound” mail to Morgan, a midtown facility not far from Times Square .
“Sources in upper management at the Postal Service who are against consolidation have told us that they will start the process in April or May,” said Clarice Torrence, president of APWU’s New York Metro Area Local. The postal reform act passed in December requires community oversight on consolidation plans, Torrence noted, but the coalition had not been contacted.
