Rally: Save bulk mail center jobs

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Hudson County politicians joined postal union leaders Monday to protest plans by the United States Postal Service to privatize bulk mail centers across the country, which they fear could cost jobs at the nation's largest center in Jersey City.

"These workers need those jobs," Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy said at the rally in front of the New Jersey International and Bulk Mail Center on County Road.

"Their families need those jobs. Our city needs those jobs," Healy added. "We have to fight this."

The center employs 2,400 people and no date has been given for closure, but union officials believe it is one of 21 bulk mail centers around the nation the USPS plans to privatize. Half of the workers at this center are Jersey City residents, Healy said.

U.S. Reps. Albio Sires and Donald Payne, along with officials from the American Postal Workers Union and Local 300 of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, also attended the noon event.

Local 300 president Paul Hogrogian said the privatized jobs are inferior to the ones they replace.

"The post office provides a living wage, subcontractors don't. It has a trickle down affect," said Hogrogian. "That's going to affect the economy of a lot of communities here in North Jersey."

Rep. Albio Sires has co-sponsored legislation to prevent the Postal Service from outsourcing services to the private sector that goes before Congress next year. The USPS has refused to provide the House with data that would support privatization as a way to save taxpayers money and save jobs, he said.

"This Postal Service seems to have this Wall Street mentality that they can privatize everything," Sires said. According to the USPS, bulk mail centers are underused due to changing technology and other options for potential customers.

"With evolving mail volumes and mailing patterns, we continue to look for ways to become more efficient by better utilizing our equipment and facilities," said USPS spokeswoman Darleen Reid-De Meo.

Officials with the two unions said they have no-layoff clauses in their contracts that protect employees on the job for six or more years, but that the USPS can ask workers to relocate.