{"id":14494,"date":"2016-03-28T08:39:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T13:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=14494"},"modified":"2016-03-28T08:39:16","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T13:39:16","slug":"apwu-consolidations-in-deferred-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2016\/03\/28\/apwu-consolidations-in-deferred-status\/","title":{"rendered":"APWU: Consolidations in \u2018Deferred Status\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"news-date-inline\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">03\/24\/2016<\/span><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>&#8211;<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Postal workers and postal customers got some good news recently: The Deputy Postmaster General notified a member of Congress that \u201cconsolidation activities remain in a deferred status.\u201d A one-year moratorium on more than 70 plant consolidations and closures was set to expire in April.<\/p>\n<p>Management announced the deferral in response to an outcry from postal workers, residents of affected communities, and members of Congress.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-7249\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/1aa-APWU-small.gif\" alt=\"1aa-APWU-small\" width=\"295\" height=\"182\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Postal Service has been unable to meet even the lower mail delivery standards management implemented in January 2015, and complaints of severe delays have been widespread.<\/p>\n<p>In a March 18 letter, the Deputy Postmaster General said the USPS would update the \u201cfeasibility studies\u201d it conducted on facilities targeted for closure before resuming any consolidations. Management had previously insisted it would rely on data from studies conducted several years ago, before service standards were changed and mail processing operations were reconfigured.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Not Enough\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI appreciate the Postal Service\u2019s decision to take a closer look at what plant closings and consolidations are doing to service,\u201d said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. \u201cBut it\u2019s not enough for management to update studies they conducted years ago. Given the new circumstances, it is essential that the Postal Service hold community meetings and solicit input from the public again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In contract negotiations, the union demanded a moratorium on plant closings and consolidations for the life of the contract, he pointed out, but the USPS hasn\u2019t said how long the just-announced deferral will last.<\/p>\n<p>The Deputy Postmaster General wrote to Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) in response to a letter Rep. McSally wrote to the Postmaster General on March 4, asking for an update on consolidation plans. Rep. McSally\u2019s letter was co-signed by 30 U.S. Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe consolidations and closures disrupt postal workers\u2019 lives and severely weaken our great national treasure,\u201d said Executive Vice President Debby Szeredy. \u201cInstead of closing facilities and lowering standards, USPS management should be expanding and enhancing service. This is a step in the right direction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>03\/24\/2016\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0Postal workers and postal customers got some good news recently: The Deputy Postmaster General notified a member of Congress that \u201cconsolidation activities remain in a deferred status.\u201d A one-year moratorium on more than 70 plant consolidations and closures was set to expire in April. Management announced the deferral in response to an outcry from postal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14495,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14494\/revisions\/14495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}