Unions plan info rally at Cedar Rapids post office this afternoon

Postal workers are planning an educational rally from 4 to 6:30 p.m. today at the Cedar Rapids Main Post Office, 615 6

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Ave SE, Cedar Rapids.

American Postal Workers Union Rapid Area Local 166 President Dan Skemp said union members want to educate the public about the impact of shifting services performed in Cedar Rapids to Milan, Ill.

“We're not trying to be negative,” added Kelly Steinke, a letter carrier in Cedar Rapids for 18 years and the American Association of Letter Carriers' 2

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District representative.

The postal workers – carriers, clerks and handlers – used the rally to spread the work about HR 1351, which has bipartisan congressional support and nearly 200 co-sponsors.

“It would stabilize the post office without tax money … so we wouldn't have to do some of the things that have been proposed,” Steinke explained.

It would alleviate the financial burden that stems from a congressional requirement to pre-fund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years within the decade. The USPS is paying out of its operational budget for retirement benefits for people who are not even born, according to the unions.

According to the unions, the cost has been $21 billion since 2007 and accounts for 100 percent of the postal service's red ink.

The rally was organized after the postmaster general announced that the Cedar Rapids mail processing and distribution center might be downsized or closed as early as February.

The USPS announced Sept. 15 it will conduct feasibility studies to determine whether the operations of mail centers in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo should be consolidated with centers in Milan, Ill, and Des Moines, respectively.

Faced with declining mail volume and revenue, the USPS is considering closing or consolidating as many as 250 processing facilities and shedding 35,000 jobs. Since 2006, it has closed 186 facilities, removed more than 1,500 pieces of mail processing equipment, eliminated 110,000 jobs through attrition and reduced costs by $12 billion.”

In Cedar Rapids, about 150 clerks and mail handlers, 40 maintenance workers and 10 to 20 management personnel could be affected, according to Skemp of North Liberty.