Union members rally, bring attention to Postal Service’s slow mail delivery

by Carol McIntire

Editor

Postal workers who are members of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) rallied outside the Minerva Post Office Oct. 1 as part of a nationwide Day of Action.

According to Carmine Russo, president of the Canton, OH, area local that covers 80 post offices, the rally was to bring awareness about the United States Postal Service’s substandard performance on mail delivery to the communities it serves. 

“We want people to know, as postal employees, we want to move the mail and move it on time,” Russo told The Messenger. “The U.S. Postal Service continues to close postal facilities and move the mail further away from the people they serve. A few years ago, Canton was number one on the list for delivery of letter mail. The postal service closed that facility and moved everything to Akron. They then closed the Akron facility and moved it to Cleveland so now all the local mail from those 80 post offices must go to Cleveland then back to the local post office.”

He said local post offices were previously allowed to keep mail addressed to the local area in their post office, which provided quick delivery. 

“Now all mail must go to Cleveland to be counted,” Russo explained.

“The postal service is doing an excellent job ensuring that ballots and election related mail are delivered in a timely manner. But efficient and timely service also should apply all year to the delivery of prescription drugs, Social Security checks, financial documents, personal correspondence, and other mail and packages,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein in a news release issued the day of the rallies.  

“With the exception of the special provisions being applied to election mail, mail service has been noticeably slower for millions of customers due to postal management’s poor implementation of its plan to modernize mail facilities and its move to ship much of the nation’s mail and packages to distant processing centers. Pressure from members of Congress and the collective efforts of postal workers has caused the of elements of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan. But it isn’t just postal management that is at fault; the Postal Board of Governors has limited public comments in its meetings and has made many of its decisions that slow service behind closed doors, including a recent decision that will further slow rural mail beginning in 2025 if allowed to take effect. The APWU is demanding greater transparency.”

Russo said the purpose of the rally was to call for the public’s help in demanding improved staffing for postal workers and improved customer service along with more opportunity for public input. 

In the release Dimondstein noted the public is not blind to the problems.

“While a majority of Americans maintain a favorable impression of the USPS, according to polling released by the Pew Research Center in March 2023, the number of Americans viewing the USPS favorably dropped from 91percent in 2020 to 77 percent in the latest poll,” he wrote.

Dimondstein said it makes little sense to take mail being sent within the same city, county or zip code to locations sometimes hundreds of miles away by truck and then transport it back.

Russo, who has been president of the Canton Local union for 20 years said in years past, the emphasis was on customer service. 

“A month to get a letter isn’t delivering the mail and it certainly isn’t customer service,” he said. 

The group was collecting signatures in support of their cause. Later in the day, a union member was stationed in front of  the Carrollton post office collecting signatures.