Rep. Schiff Condemns Postal Service Decision to Close Mack Robinson Post Office in Pasadena
Pasadena, CA – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) issued the following statement after the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced it would move forward with a cost-cutting plan to close nearly 250 mail processing centers, including the Mack Robinson Processing and Distribution Center in Pasadena:
“I was deeply disappointed to learn this afternoon that USPS is still pursing the closure of the mail sorting facility at the Mack Robinson Processing and Distribution Center within the next nine months. Closing the center would have a detrimental economic impact as it provides hundreds of good-paying local jobs and ensures the swift and timely delivery of mail throughout the San Gabriel Valley, which is necessary for local businesses to operate smoothly. Closing Mack Robinson and other facilities like it is also not necessary and does little to address the financial challenges facing the postal service.
“The USPS, unlike other federal agencies, must prefund its retiree health benefits, which is responsible for approximately 80% of USPS’s operating deficit. I support legislation –- and urge Congress to include it in any postal reform bill that moves this year -– that would use previous overpayments that USPS has made to federal government retirement benefit programs to pay for the prefunding of the retiree health benefit requirement. Adoption of this legislation would mean that USPS would not have to close hundreds of mail sorting facilities across the country.”
Background: The USPS announced plans to move ahead with a modified plan to consolidate its network of 461 mail processing locations in phases. The first phase of activities will result in up to 140 consolidations through February of 2013. Unless the circumstances of the Postal Service change in the interim, a second and final phase of 89 consolidations is currently scheduled to begin in February of 2014. These consolidating activities will reduce the size of the Postal Service workforce by approximately 13,000 employees after the first phase. When fully implemented in late 2014, the Postal Service expects its consolidations to lead to total workforce reduction up to 28,000 employees.