Tag: USPS

Postal Workers Protest Proposed DOGE Cuts

by Zachary Groz, March 20, New Haven Independent

Carrying red, white, and blue signs reading “U.S. MAIL NOT FOR SALE” and chanting “Whose Post Office? The People’s Post Office,” roughly 15 U.S. postal workers marched down Elm Street to protest a recently announced Trump- and Musk-led effort to slash the service’s workforce and budget.

That rally took place Thursday afternoon outside the USPS Yale Station office at the corner of Elm and High streets.

The local postal workers and their allies showed up to speak out against a plan detailed in a letter that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump I appointee who has headed the independent agency since summer 2020, wrote to Congress on March 13.

The letter announced that USPS has entered into an agreement with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to work on “identifying and achieving further efficiencies.”

Under the agreement, per DeJoy’s letter, USPS will be cutting 10,000 staff this month through early retirement buy-outs, skirting a no-layoff clause in the postal workers’ contract, and DOGE will be “reviewing” the agency’s retirement funds, worker’s comp program, unfunded mandates from Congress, and the parallel regulatory commission that sets the post office’s rates.

On Thursday, postal workers in more than 150 cities around the country took to the streets in a day of action to protest what they’re calling a full-on assault by the Trump administration to privatize and “destroy the Postal Service” under the auspices of cost-savings.

In New Haven, the protesters marched and chanted on Elm Street, as cars whizzed by honking their horns to encourage the rally on.

They circulated fliers with quick facts on the Post Office, which, the fliers read, is “enshrined in the U.S. Constitution” and “delivers to every address in the country” in contrast to for-profit delivery companies, who “will only go where they can make a profit.”

“Their ultimate goal is not necessarily to make things efficient but to turn it into a moneymaker,” said Marc Cesare, the president of Local 237 of the American Postal Workers Union. “Turning it into a moneymaker could mean closing down little post offices.”

Rich Neagle, the New Haven steward of the union, added that fighting to keep the Post Office intact as a “public service” uninterested in maximizing profit margins shouldn’t be “a partisan issue.” With major staffing and budget cuts, he said, will come longer delays, more lost mail, and higher costs…

[To read this article in its entirety, please go to https://bit.ly/4lds15d]

Abysmal: Seymour’s Progress Towards ADA Compliance | Joseph Luciano

by Joseph A. Luciano, Founder, Disability Rights Action Group of CT

To date, Seymour’s post office remains inaccessible to elderly and persons with disabilities (PWDs) unable to climb its mountainous steps to the “public” lobby.

It has succeeded in evading ADA compliance and enforcement twice.  The U.S. Dept. of Justice claims lack of jurisdiction because this post office was built before ADA’s enactment in 1990.  Then the U.S. Access Board determined it also lacks jurisdiction because the steps were constructed in 1917 and have not been altered since the 1968 enactment of the U.S. ABA.   The postmaster refuses to re‑open the ramp at the rear where for years postal workers cheerfully provided services to anyone.

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A rally in May of 2015 at the Post Office in Seymour, Conn., shows the stairs, insurmountable to many, in front of the federal building.

USPS has notified only me that, to obtain service, I must telephone the facility’s “dedicated” number when I arrive at the foot of the steps.  [In practice, (203) 888-3830 is the regular phone number and not dedicated to serve PWDs.]

USPS has ignored my repeated requests that Seymour’s post office should publicize its rules applicable only to PWDs and that it should be required at least to provide signage visible to all customers unable to climb to the public lobby.

Every year since 2012, Seymour’s town hall has assured me that by each year’s end or next spring work would begin to replace broken impassable sidewalks and to construct crosswalks and curbcuts.  These promises remain unfilled.  While new curbcuts have been constructed downtown, two are inaccessible because of steps in front of them, and another is inaccessible because the sidewalk leading to it is impassable.  Also, curbcuts have been provided to access two brickwalks—but curbcuts are absent at the other ends enabling continued travel.  Thus, dead-ends exist—25 years after ADA 1990.

Again, I invite PAR readers to consider signing the petition to ensure architectural access at Seymour’s post office, all other public accommodations, and all state and local government buildings.

Go to http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/seymour-ct-post-office?source=s.fwd&r_by=3363627
Joseph A. Luciano, (203) 463-8323,  DRAGconnecticut@yahoo.com.

A Doorbell Would Be a Nice Touch | Joe Luciano

by Joe Luciano, Founder, Disability Rights Action Group of CT

Seymour’s inaccessible post office continues to be unresponsive to its customers with disabilities unable to climb the mountainous steps to its public lobby.

Channel 8 News and the New Haven Register covered the May 13 rally to bring attention to the postmaster’s refusal to provide equal access to customers with disabilities. (The post office facility at 91 Main St. has a long steep staircase at its entrance with no ramp, lift, or other means for persons with limited mobility to get inside. For years, customers with disabilities used a service ramp at the rear of the building but the postmaster suddenly shut it down.)

The USPS valley supervisor established only one way for handicapped customers to obtain service: customers must telephone a “dedicated” number to request sidewalk service. This is unacceptable: there is no sign with instructions visible to arriving customers; the number is not publicized; this does not work for people without cell phones or unable to use one; the sidewalk area is hazardous; and the dedicated number is not dedicated; it’s the general number, often busy.

“The Postmaster is hiding behind the letter of the ADA, ignoring the fact that the USPS is required by Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act to make its services accessible to customers with disabilities,” said Marc Anthony Gallucci, Executive Director of the Center for Disability Rights.

Disability Rights Action Group  has sent multiple requests to local and federal USPS officials asking, in the very least, for a door bell and signage telling the handicapped how to obtain service. No USPS official has responded to DRAG’s requests, in keeping with their customer service attitude.

PAR readers interested in joining our next rally should email their contact information to DRAGconnecticut@yahoo.com.