Postal Workers Circulate Petition for Better Staffing, Better Service & Better Post Offices
Maine postal workers with APWU have joined a national campaign calling on the US Postal Service to improve staffing and services as the agency continues to suffer from low staffing.
The USPS is in the process of implementing Postmaster Louis DeJoy's controversial 10-year Delivering for America plan that includes consolidating mail sorting and processing centers, delaying mail pick-up schedules, slowing mail delivery windows and increasing prices and unprecedented rates. As part of the plan, the USPS is attempting to consolidate services currently handled by the Hampden Processing and Distribution Center to the larger center in Scarborough - a move that will lead to layoffs and delivery delays for mail customers in northern and central Maine.
The APWU’s petition states:
It is unacceptable to us that our local post office faces a staffing shortage, causing long lines and unfair delays in our community.
We call on the USPS to make every effort to sufficiently staff our post office so we can receive the “prompt, reliable, and efficient” service we deserve under the law.
Please sign the petition here
APWU 458 member Kevin Ready, who has been circulating the petition, said some post offices in Maine have had to close or only open for part of the day because a staffer is out sick and nobody is able to cover for them due to understaffing.
“We’ve got people from above and below trying to fill supervisory roles and the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” said Ready. “It’s like a vicious circle as the lower staffing leads to higher stress levels among the staff we have and then eventually they burn out. It’s a very terrible working environment for a lot of people.”
Ready said APWU is urging people to document incidences of poor staffing in the offices and on the street.
The Maine AFL-CIO, Peer Workforce Navigator project and the postal unions have been working together to recruit workers into good union jobs in the Postal Service through our Postal Jobs Bootcamp and related outreach and recruiting efforts.