Postal union fights to keep local processing center open

Consolidation of processing centers threatens services
For residents living in the North Bay, a simple letter or thank you card dropped in the mail, intended for a recipient in the next town over, will take a journey south to Oakland or San Francisco before returning here for delivery. This new system is part of the changes being made to the North Bay Processing & Distribution Mail Center in Petaluma, and workers say it is only going to get worse.
On Friday, Nov. 14, members of the American Postal Workers Union joined together to protest the changes in outgoing mail and the possibility of the Petaluma facility closing altogether. That same day, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced his retirement.
“We hope to get someone in there with an open mind,” said Valerie Schropp, Executive Vice President of Redwood Empire Area Local American Postal Workers Union. “With this news, we have our fingers crossed that the plant closures will stop.”
The “National Day of Action” was executed by postal workers across the country, including a march on Washington D.C. The outrage is in response to the United States Postal Services National Rationalization Process, a two-phase plan to close and consolidate 225 Area Mail Processing Centers nationwide. The plan was approved by the Postal Service Board of Governors in 2011 and is expected to hit Northern California during Phase 2, beginning January of 2015.
“We are going forward with National Rationalization Process, shifting mail processing out of Petaluma to San Francisco, but it will still remain an overnight delivery area,” said James Wigdel, United States Postal Service San Francisco branch. “We have about 82 locations left nationwide.”
Representatives for the United States Postal Service (USPS) say that the need for consolidation is due to a significant drop in volume for first class mail, the agency’s “bread and butter,” said Wigdel.
“The facts are that we have had a drastic reduction in first class letter volume,” said Wigdel. “We have a network designed to process 300 billion, (a number he said they have seen in the past) but last year we only had 155 billion. We don’t need this huge networking business when that number is dropping dramatically.”
USPS reports that although the first class volume has declined, their package mail is growing by leaps and bounds due to an increase in online commerce, although packaging is still only 10 percent of their business.
Wigdel said they are adjusting the network to process packages. As for mail, depending on location, he said the longer service period nationwide will be minimal, increasing from 2.14 days to 2.25 days on average.
Union workers against the plan disagree, saying that the move would actually add several days of delay in mail deliveries to residents in Sonoma, Marin, Lake and Mendocino counties.
“We are already seeing the delays with the change in outgoing mail. So what’s happening now is San Francisco can’t handle mail so its then sent back to Petaluma and clerks are being put on penalty overtime to work that mail,” said Schropp.
Plans for consolidating were first proposed in 2011, and last spring the processing center began to feel the changes as outgoing mail was rerouted to Oakland.
Postal workers said that when Oakland failed to handle the overflow, the mail was moved to San Francisco to be processed, causing residents in the 949 and 954 zip codes to experience delays in delivery.
The Postmaster General’s mail study is said to show that processing mail in another facility will save USPS money. The agency also reported an overall loss of $5.5 billion this year.
“Our question has always been, ‘is it truly cheaper to move it to Oakland?’” said Schropp, who noted that the postal service refuses to provide copies of the study and that the APWU has enlisted support from Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson to get the information.
Concerns of the closure include delays in medications delivered by mail and Social Security checks for the elderly and veterans. Schropp said one woman spoke at a APWU meeting in Eureka, claiming that if she can’t get insulin for her son on time that they might have to move to a less remote area.
Union workers fear that traffic, natural disasters and other unforeseen delays will also play a part in the disintegration of postal services for the Northern California region.
“The day we received the announcement of changes was also when we had the Napa earthquake,” said Schropp.
The closure of both Eureka and Redding locations would mean a total blackout for Northern California.
“We would like the mail to stay in Petaluma, regardless whether I work for the postal service or not,” said Schropp.
“What we want is for people to know that this is happening, and to write to their congress person and their postmaster. It would be great to go to their local chamber businesses and sign the petitions,” she said.