TOPLINE
Postal workers in Washington state have received new speed mail for high-speed mail installation – discontinued following controversial U.S. Postal Service orders – despite USPS orders not to use machines again.
US Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sworn in for a virtual First Chamber country … [+]
KEY FACTS
After the postmaster general Louis DeJoy announced that he would pause recent controversial changes to the U.S. Postal Service Protocol, the service told workers not to install remote equipment.
Forty percent of the high-speed mail sorting machines in the Seattle-Tacoma area have been disconnected or shut down since the changes took effect, according to NPR, with workers at the Tacoma, Washington sorting plant, who said eight of their 18 letter-sorting and postmarked machines were disconnected and shoved into a corner.
Sorting machines in Wenatchee, Washington were also reconnected, against the orders of the head of the maintenance post office, Kevin Couch.
Only two facilities, Seattle-Tacoma and one in Dallas, appear to be ignoring the Postal Service’s directive to keep disused sorting machines out of service.
Key background
Since his appointment as postmaster general in May, Louis DeJoy, a prolific GOP financier and Trump donor, has introduced highly controversial changes to the U.S. Postal Service protocol that workers say resulted in massive delays in mail delivery, including carving of overtime for postal workers, the nationwide removal of boxes for collecting mail and dismissing or dismantling hundreds of high-speed sports machines across the country. The changes have led to widespread fears that the Postal Service will not be set up to anticipate the millions of post-vote votes expected in the November elections. Democrats at the state and national levels have filed lawsuits against DeJoy, the USPS, and President Donald Trump who claim the changes are an attempt to limit post-voting during the November election. DeJoy will testify before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on Friday and is expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Continue reading
Do not connect mail machines again, Postal Service tells plants. Tacoma Does It (NPR)
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies before the First Chamber as USPS Fears Grow (Forbes)
Postmaster General Defends USPS Amendments, E-mail Vote in Senate Hearing Says Removed Mail Removal Equipment Not Reinstalled (Forbes)
