Portland City Council -- Call for a public hearing hosted by the U.S. Postal Service related to changes affecting Portland postal workers and services

[Jamie Partridge]

Portland City Resolution for Postal Hearing

 

The Portland City Council has unanimously passed a resolution calling on the US Postal Service to hold a local, public hearing on the new Sorting and Delivery Center (scheduled to open at the Evergreen location in Beaverton this June), future “consolidations” (local managers have verbally revealed that another S&DC is slated to open at the Cornfoot Rd. P&DC location) and other aspects of Postmaster General DeJoy’s ten-year “Delivering for America” plan.  The resolution, introduced by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, was brought to the Council by the Portland Area American Postal Workers Union and Portland Communities and Postal Workers United.  The hearing could be held as soon as the end of February or as late as early April.  Stay tuned to get involved.  Contact PCPWU, cpwun...@gmail.com.

 

Call for a public hearing hosted by the U.S. Postal Service related to changes affecting Portland postal workers and services

(passed by Portland City Council, February 7, 2024 - https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/resolution/adopted/37650

 

Whereas: The United States Postal Service was established as the U.S. Post Office on July 26, 1775, then enshrined in the Constitution and supported by the American people, and

 

Whereas: The U.S. Postal Service plays an essential role in the commerce of goods and services, and 

 

Whereas: Without any taxpayer funding, the U.S. Postal Service serves 157 million households and businesses each day, providing affordable, universal mail service to all – including rich and poor, rural and urban, without regard to age, nationality, race or gender, and

 

Whereas: The U.S. Postal Service belongs to “We, the People.” but the U.S. Postal Service and postal jobs are threatened by dismantling it into an institution that can be sold off and privatized, and

 

Whereas: On March 23, 2021, the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy a Trump-appointee, announced a Ten-Year Plan “Delivering for America,” which is already consolidating and closing mail facilities, delaying mail delivery, raising postage prices and eliminating tens of thousands of postal jobs, with the expressed purpose of running the U.S. Postal Service “like a business,” and  

 

Whereas: On June 21, 2018, the Trump administration released “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century: Reform Plan and Reorganization Recommendations” stating they favor privatization of the postal service, and

 

Whereas: Postal services are essential to our most vulnerable communities -- seniors, veterans, rural and low-income residents, small businesses -- delivering medications, ballots, legal documents, social security checks, business shipping and receiving, and binding together families, friends and loved ones, and

 

Whereas: Good postal jobs are vital to strong, healthy communities, and have provided equal opportunities and the foundation for financial stability for workers from all walks of life, including racial and ethnic minorities, women and veterans, and

 

Whereas: In late 2023, the U.S. Postal Service announced that “consolidations” are coming to Medford, Eugene, Salem and Portland.  Massive Sorting and Delivery Center hubs (S&DC) will be established which displace letter carriers from neighborhood post offices ("spokes"), forcing long commutes and travel times while eliminating clerk, trucker and supervisor positions and reducing service or closing local post offices, and

 

Whereas: Evergreen Post Office (Beaverton) has been chosen to become a Sorting and Delivery Center in June, 2024, and

 

Whereas: The U.S. Postal Service has yet to answer specific questions about the impact of S&DCs on jobs, local economies and customer service.  The Postmaster General has not answered questions about the “Delivering for America” plan put to him by the Postal Regulatory Commission and members of Congress.  The Postal Board of Governors has eliminated public comment from its quarterly meetings (except once a year in November).  President Biden has yet to appoint new postal governors to fill two empty positions.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Portland City Council calls on the U.S. Postal Service to host a local public hearing within a month, to hear concerns and answer questions from postal workers, customers and elected officials about the “Delivering for America” plan and consolidations in the Portland area; and 

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the U.S. Postal Service declines to host a local hearing, the Portland City Council, in collaboration with other local elected officials and Members of Congress, will host such a hearing and invite U.S. Postal Service representatives, and be it further; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Portland City Council call on the Postal Board of Governors to return public comment, both virtual and in-person, to its public meetings; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Portland City Council call on President Biden to consider the appointment of two new postal governors who will defend the public postal service and provide a counterweight to the Postmaster General and his Ten-Year Plan.