By Jordyn Grzelewski and Craig Mauger
Southfield — Michigan union leaders (click here) within the U.S. Postal Service are sounding alarms about policy changes that one official describes as a "conscious decision to delay mail" as a political showdown brews in Washington, D.C.
The removal of at least eight mail sorting machines in Detroit, Pontiac and Grand Rapids facilities are causing the loss of sorting more than 270,000 pieces of mail per hour, according to union officials from around the state. The planned removal of another three machines in West Michigan would reduce mail sorting capability by another 108,000 pieces of mail per hour, a union official there said.
The warnings come after Louis DeJoy of North Carolina became postmaster general in June and as President Donald Trump has publicly voiced concerns about mail-in voting this fall as he seeks re-election. The U.S. Postal Service lost $6.7 billion in the first half of the year as the service reported continued drops in first class and business mail that weren't offset by an over 50% increase in package deliveries....
None of the losses in income is due to the operations of the US Post Office. These income losses are related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The US Post Office should have been allowed to apply for funding along with every other large business in the country. Now, it needs a grant and not a loan to maintain it's operations.
August 18, 2020
By Amy Gardner and Erin Cox
At least 20 states (click here) plan to file lawsuits this week against the U.S. Postal Service and its new postmaster, Louis DeJoy, seeking to reverse service changes that have prompted widespread reports of delays and accusations of an intentional effort to thwart voters from mailing their ballots this fall.
The suits, including one filed Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Washington state , will argue that the Postal Service broke the law by making operational changes without first seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission. They will also argue that the changes will impede states’ ability to run free and fair elections, officials from several state attorney general’s offices told The Washington Post. The Constitution gives states and Congress, not the executive branch, the power to regulate elections.
“We will be taking action to reinstate Postal Service standards that all Americans depend on, whether it’s for delivering their prescription drugs or for carrying their very right to vote,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at an afternoon news conference....
There is absolutely no choice in handling these issues. They are deliberate and harmful to the country and its people. The Postal Service MUST MAKE EVERY CITY it attempted to dismantle whole again and REPLACE sorting machines and the postal drop boxes used to mail letters and in this case, their ballots. This is a planned and destructive act by the new Post Master General Louis DeJoy.
