On the heels of this week’s announcement that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will finally suspend implementing additional, already-destructive, changes to postal operations until after the November election, New York Sen. Charles Schumer has revealed new legislation that would restore postal services for all Southern Tier residents immediately. Specifically, Schumer’s legislation would:
- reverse all of the rash and sudden “cost-cutting” decisions implemented this summer to restore critical operations for Southern Tier residents and over 3,900 regional employees;
- would ensure all mail-in ballots are treated as First Class priority mail to alleviate vote-by-mail issues that countless Southern Tier residents saw during the recent June 2020 primaries.
Following a personal call with Postmaster DeJoy, Schumer sent a detailed list of questions to DeJoy that remain unanswered:
- Which practices did USPS pause and which will continue;
- If election mail will still be classified as First Class;
- If and when USPS will replace dismantled and removed machines and collection boxes, and a list of every location where it equipment was removed.
Importantly, all of these sudden, drastic changes occurred when Postmaster DeJoy began implementing broad “cost-cutting” structural changes at USPS and cutting overtime hours for Southern Tier postal workers. Despite promises made by Postmaster DeJoy that USPS has “ample capacity” to handle a predicted surge in mail-in ballots, local union officials have expressed concerns surrounding increased mail as these issues continue just a few weeks away from the November election. Schumer said that the Southern Tier post office operations must be immediately restored.
“We we will not stand for the continued, in-your-face slowing down of the mail and the undermining of Americans who depend on medications, VA benefits, paychecks, even food, and we will not allow for these changes to take root and hobble the November election—no way,” said Schumer.
Schumer said he will drive new legislation that would:
- 1) Undo the changes slowing down the mail
- 2) Ensure our mail-in ballots are treated as First Class priority mail
Schumer warned that if the current slow-downs are allowed to remain in place, the Southern Tier’s more than 3,900 postal jobs, based on statistics for NY’s 19, 22, and 23 congressional districts, would be jeopardized, along with its critical functions that support everyday door-to-door service but also ensure critical medications, VA benefits, Social Security checks paychecks, food and more make it to their destinations.
