Plant consolidation provisions in postal reform act
The Postal Reform Act passed by Congress contains language that supports the Postal Service’s efforts to consolidate plants, while requiring the agency to be more open about its plans. The act includes this: “as noted by the President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service, the Postal Service has more facilities than it needs and the streamlining of this distribution network can pave the way for the potential consolidation of sorting facilities and the elimination of excess costs”.
The act encourages the USPS to “expeditiously move forward in its streamlining efforts”, but adds that it must also “keep unions, management associations, and local elected officials informed as an essential part of this effort and abide by any procedural requirements contained in the national bargaining agreements.”
To that end, the USPS is required to produce a plan outlining the steps it plans to take, including “estimated timeframes, criteria, and processes to be used for making changes to the facilities network, and the process for engaging policy makers and the public in related decisions”. The plan must also include “a discussion of what impact any facility changes may have on the postal workforce and whether the Postal Service has sufficient flexibility to make needed workforce changes”, as well as “a comprehensive plan under which reemployment assistance shall be afforded to employees displaced as a result of automation of any of its functions, the closing and consolidation of any of its facilities, or such other reasons as the Postal Service may determine”.
The act requires that any consolidation efforts currently under way include notice to the communities involved of any service changes and impacts on employees. The USPS must also “afford affected persons ample opportunity to provide input on the proposed decision; and take such comments into account in making a final decision.”