Employees at the Richard G. Wilson Processing and Distribution Facility are being kept "totally in the dark" about the U.S. Postal Service's plans for the mail sorting and processing plant and have been left to discover information about their jobs through Internet research, a union official said.

Postal Service officials say tentative information on the agency's plans is available online for public review but no firm dates have been made regarding personnel changes.

Internet sleuthing by employees revealed a Postal Service spreadsheet that specifies dates associated with 154 deactivation actions at processing facilities nationwide, according to Greg Davidson, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 4088. The document, dated April 19 and available on the National Customer Support Center and the Postal Service's websites, notes that letters, packages and flats -- large envelopes -- are "scheduled for transition out of" the Cape Girardeau facility as of July 6.

Davidson said managers and human resources personnel who were asked this week said they knew nothing of the July 6 date.

"Our plant manager said 'Where did you find those?'" Davidson said.

Postal Service regional spokesman Richard Watkins said the "mail move plan," updated weekly at the Postal Service's Rapid Information Bulletin Board System, is available to business mailers and employees.

"Its not like it's restricted information and employees don't have access to it," Watkins said. But he said the "dates that are listed are tentative and are subject to change." The Postal Service will execute "due diligence" in making final transition decisions and will communicate with employees according to contractual guidelines, which stipulate they be given adequate notice, he said.

Last month, Watkins said approximately 12 to 18 "craft employees" -- nonmanagement, permanent Postal Service workers -- could be relocated and that 14 nonpermanent workers could be affected by the end of the summer. Previously, the facility was slated to close in 2014. About 100 employees work at the site and information about the remaining workforce remains unavailable.

Watkins on Wednesday said the Postal Service hopes to continue decreasing the workforce through attrition instead of layoffs as part of ongoing efforts to save money.

Since 2006, the Postal Service has cut annual costs by about $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by about 200,000 and consolidated more than 200 mail-processing locations, officials have said.

Much of the Postal Service's financial woes are attributed to a 2006 law requiring it to pay about $5.5 billion a year into future retiree health benefits, something no other federal agency does.

Davidson said workers have been given conflicting information since feasibility studies of consolidating processing operations began in 2011. The union is planning to file a complaint with the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent agency with oversight over the Postal Service, he said.

The commission is reviewing seven formal complaints about the process the Postal Service has followed in consolidating operations, Gail Adams of the commission said Wednesday. The complaints from workers' unions and consumers nationwide are that the Postal Service has not followed regulatory commission transparency guidelines, expense estimates have been falsified and adequate public notice has not been provided, among other allegations. They urge the commission to put a halt to consolidations until more information can be gathered.

A complaint dated April 11 by the "APWU Helena Local 649 and consumers of the USPS" alleged that "The USPS has continued to keep the employees, the unions, the customers, the community and the [U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission] in the dark as to the adverse affects [sic] of all the closings and consolidations. We are being used as pawns so that pressure is placed on Congress to do their job and release the USPS from PAEA requirements to pay into the health plan fund 75 years in advance, and to attempt to recoup the overpayments made over the years that have not been returned to the USPS. This is being done at the detriment of the communities and the workers."

A Postal Service Office of the Inspector General management advisory report dated March 27 described problems with conflicting communications.

"While the Postal Service has improved communications with stakeholders, there continues to be concern regarding the consistency of information provided, the transparency of information shared with stakeholders, and the perception that management does not consider public input when making decisions to consolidate operations. When communications are inconsistent, the Postal Service risks diminishing public confidence while increasing opposition to optimization efforts," the report said.

Watkins said the Postal Service is "keeping in contact with our employees and the unions."

Consumers will be notified well in advance of operational changes, such as possible changes in collection times because of the need to transport mail to St. Louis for processing, he said.

Davidson said conflicting information has caused workers "a lot of problems" and consumers, especially small businesses, are not being adequately or accurately informed.

"What the heck are we supposed to believe?" he said.

salderman@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

475 Kell Farm Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.