Sunday outside the post office in East Syracuse, Sen. Kristin Gillibrand defended the postal service and its employees from recent budget cuts made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Gillibrand was adamant changes to work hours or access to mail sorting equipment would slow down the postal service that delivers important items to countless Americans.
“Postmaster General DeJoy’s ill-conceived changes are threatening the delivery of medicine during a health crisis, checks during an economic crisis and ballots during an election. An election that is going to be conducted largely by mail,” Gillibrand said. “This is completely unacceptable.”
Gillibrand was joined by American Postal Workers Union Local 257 President Nicole Burnett as well as National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 134 Vice President Tom Dlugolenski. Burnett mentioned that the removal of several mail processing machines in Central New York post offices has slowed down deliveries.
“It slows us down. We’re up to the challenge, we’ve always delivered, but we’re handicapped when you take away what we need to process mail for this area.”
Labor Day comes just two days before the senate will formally reconvene in D.C., and Gillibrand acknowledged the need for a stimulus package that would provide relief for state and local budgets, as well as essential workers such as post office employees.
“We need federal relief and I’m working night and day to ensure President Trump will support federal relief, pushing Mitch McConnell as hard as we can to negotiate federal relief for state and local budgets in the next COVID (financial aid) package.”
According to Dlugolenski, he and other mail carriers need a stimulus plan that will assist them. He also said carriers have struggled due to the pandemic and post office cuts, often having to work longer hours trying to deliver two days’ worth of mail at once.