Postal unions vow to battle changes

Local postal union officials again vowed to fight the U.S. Postal Service's plan to consolidate services from the Watertown post office's mail processing operation with the Syracuse Processing and Distribution Center.

During an informational meeting Wednesday night at the Dulles State Office Building, union representatives blasted U.S. Postal Service Albany District officials for not providing what they called a "clear picture" with the recently conducted area mail processing feasibility study.

"It's not logistically possible, so what's changed?" said Frank B. Reynolds, area vice president of the Central New York Area American Postal Workers Union. "We've done AMP studies; this will be the fifth time."

Negative impacts highlighted during Wednesday's meeting included eliminating overtime for postal workers and reassigning nine Watertown post office employees.

Michael Haggerty, acting district manager for the Albany District, said any employee changes would be in keeping with collective-bargaining agreements.

Mr. Reynolds, Bernard C. Timmerman, president of the Central New York Area postal union, and other union representatives and local postal employees told Albany District officials that sending outgoing mail to Syracuse will only hurt the consumer.

"We're talking about 63 miles between Watertown and Syracuse; that's about a 350-mile round trip from Massena and back," said Michael S. Natali, a postal employee. "Our '136' area is probably one of the largest areas, geographically, to be covered."

Mr. Haggerty said the U.S. Postal Service is conducting area mail processing feasibility studies throughout the nation to take a look at cutting costs at several facilities. The feasibility study for the Watertown Post Office showed a proposed annual savings of $1,154,000.

Mr. Haggerty said everybody needs to keep in mind that the feasibility study does not necessarily mean cost-saving measures are set in stone.

"We anticipate our delivery standards will remain the same or improve," he said during his brief presentation Wednesday night. "There's a perception out there that it'll delay the delivery of mail. That is simply not true."

Chris Hyde, area chief steward of the Central New York Area American Postal Workers Union, disagreed.

"In my 13-year career, I've seen a lot of change; and this cannot change without affecting St. Lawrence County mail," Mr. Hyde said. "The Postal Service thinks it's their mail. It's not; it's the people's mail. You cannot degrade service."

He and some of the other three dozen postal employees at the meeting argued that if someone sends mail from one of the 83 places with a ZIP code beginning with "136" to another "136" ZIP code destination, it may not get to that place the following day.

"It's not designed to change any service, and you're saying it will?" Mr. Haggerty asked some of the employees.

"Yes," a handful of them replied.

Mr. Haggerty said that when the economy improves, so will the volume of mail. Whenever there's a market downturn, less mail usually is processed, he said. "It won't come back to where it used to be," he said.

This year, the U.S. Postal Service expects to lose $6.5 billion, and use more than 100 million fewer work hours than it did in 2008. Nationwide, outgoing mail is down 15 percent from this time last year.

Mr. Haggerty told the crowd that he appreciates all of the feedback, which was recorded. People with comments or suggestions on the plan can send a letter to Consumer Affairs Manager, Albany District, 30 Old Karner Road, Albany, N.Y. 12288. Letters must be postmarked no later than June 4.

Maureen P. Marion, public affairs specialist for the Postal Service's Albany District, said that once comments are collected, a final decision will be made sometime in July.