LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Concern about the future of the United States Postal Service brought postal employees from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky to Lexington for a three-day conference.
The group was hoping to march from the downtown Hilton Hotel to the Post Rider location a few blocks away, but inclement weather postponed that plan. They’re hoping, however, that their voices won’t be drowned out by the time they can be heard at the top.
“He doesn’t look at us as a service, he looks at us like a business,” postal worker Art Campos said of United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Because of that, Campos and his fellow union members feel that Dejoy’s tactics, including consolidation, have led to delays in the U.S. mail delivery system.
“When you consolidate areas, the big cities won’t see the difference, but everyone in the (rural parts of the) community will. They’re going to have bills being late, and medicine being late,” said Clyde Trent, one of the organizers of this week’s gathering.
Several of the postal service workers here say Mr. Dejoy’s plan is to eliminate First Class mail, which they feel would wreck the entire service.
“We will lose jobs. The post office would go away after being around for 200 years. The First Class mail is what gives us our revenue. As you know, with technology today, that’s why he wants to get rid of the First Class mail,” Campos said before speculating that Priority and Express package delivery services could also be eliminated at some point during this 10-year plan Mr. DeJoy is implementing.
The postal workers’ union has a no-strike clause built into its collective bargaining agreement because of other incentives members were given, such as a no-layoff clause, according to Mr. Campos.
