Postal workers rallied in Newburgh on Tuesday.
By Nancy Peckenham
Workers at the Mid-Hudson Processing & Delivery Center at Stewart Industrial Park rallied Tuesday as part of a nationwide push for public support for a bill in Congress that they say could save jobs by re-directing billions of dollars in a fund for future retiree health benefits.
About two dozen workers, many of them members of the American Postal Workers Union and Mail Handlers Union, stood at the intersection of Route 300 and 17K in the during a foggy rush hour this morning, holding signs that grabbed the attention of passersby who tooted their horns in support.
The U.S. Postal Service announced earlier this month that it is considering closing the Mid-Hudson center and moving its operation to Albany as part of a nationwide consolidation measure that could close 250 processing centers and cut services to save $3 billion annually. The Newburgh facility employs about 375 people.
Robin Johnson is one of the workers who would be affected by the closing. She is a 27-year employee of the mail facility who lives in the town of Newburgh and she said that she is willing to drive 180 miles round trip to Albany to keep a job if she had to, despite the negative impact it would have on her three daughters. “My kids say ‘you can’t go to Albany,’ but I tell them ‘yes, I can.’ I have seven years to retirement and I have to go.” For now, Johnson is committed to supporting efforts to keep the Newburgh facility open.
Local union president Debby Szeredy and Chris White from Cong. Hinchey's office at the rally.
Debby Szeredy, local president of the American Postal Workers Union, explains that a bill making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives could free up $5.1 billion that the postal service has been required to pay for future retiree health benefits, a requirement, she said, that no other public agency faces. Congressman Maurice Hinchey and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Schumer both support the bill. The union wants two other local legislators, Congresswoman Nan Hayworth and Congressman Chris Gibson to back it, too. The bill currently has 180 backers in the House, including three Republicans.
Szeredy said that the Newburgh mail facility handles about 300,000 pieces of mail each day. If the processing center is moved to Albany, she predicted that deliveries of time-sensitive checks and medications could be delayed.
Postal workers rallied in Newburgh on Tuesday.
The U.S. Postal Service is due to make its recommendations for closing centers nationwide by early 2012. Before any closures occur, Szeredy said, a local public hearing will be held. The postal service is an independent agency that has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s.
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