Employees of the local U.S. Postal Service processing and distribution center staged a rally Friday in front of the Cape Girardeau post office as part of a national day of action for union postal workers.

The day of action coincided with the last meeting of the year for the postal service's board of governors. Union organizers estimated about 100 rallies were held throughout the country to encourage the postal service to stop making cuts that are closing or scaling back services at centers.

The Cape Girardeau center at 475 Kell Farm Drive, separate from the post office on Frederick Street, is set to stop processing mail in April as part of the second phase of a consolidation by the USPS.

Union workers say local mail already is delayed because part of their processing has moved to St. Louis with the first phase of consolidation, and when the other part goes into effect in April, service will be even slower. Some workers who will be given the option to keep their jobs only if they transfer elsewhere also don't want to leave the area.

"If we restored all our service, we would have so much better mail service, period," said Greg Davidson, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 4088. "Not all local mail comes back from St. Louis and is delivered the next day. Say you mail a letter from Poplar Bluff to Ste. Genevieve. It used to get there the next day. But we can't guarantee that anymore."

Stacy St. John, corporate communications specialist for the USPS in Iowa City, Iowa, said no mail delay exists in Cape Girardeau.

"That is the perspective of the people working at your local center," she said.

St. John said the nationwide consolidation is necessary because over 50 percent of the postal service's stamped, first-class letter volume has declined in the past decade, and the service's infrastructure is too large. The two-part consolidation is expected to save about $800 million each year when the first phase is completed and $750 million annually when the second phase is finished.

Originating of mail, which is part of processing, already has stopped in Cape Girardeau. When the rest of the process leaves, the local center will operate only as a distribution hub.

St. John said about 35 people at the Cape Girardeau center should expect to have their jobs affected by the next phase of consolidation.

"They will be offered positions in other facilities where there is actual workload," she said. "The positions will essentially follow the mail."

Davidson and union workers want the jobs to stay local, even if duties need to be reassigned.

"They have been unable to tell us what will really happen," he said. "What we do know, is that for the noncareer employees, their future is uncertain."

Several of the 25 union workers who participated in the rally Friday said they believe there could be more issues coming for customers if the parcel sorter is removed from the local center, which they said they are told by management will happen soon. Davidson said understaffing he saw during a tour of a national distribution center could additionally slow the shipping of packages during the holiday season.

"Coming this Christmas ... mail everything before Thanksgiving," he said. "That's my advice."

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

320 N. Frederick St., Cape Girardeau, MO

475 Kell Farm Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO