WASHINGTON - Mail sorting machines have been turned off and at least two disassembled according to a postal union that represents some employees in the D.C. region.
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DC postal union: mail sorting machines turned off, disassembled
Mail sorting machines have been turned off and at least two disassembled according to a postal union that represents some employees in the D.C. region.
Ray Robinson, Executive Vice President of American Postal Workers Union Local 140, said that over the weekend, two mail sorters were being taken apart and that others have been out of use for about a month.
"We haven't completely understood why they've stopped running the machines, but that's the plan to get rid of them," said Robinson. "Because they can't show the need for the use of the machine if they're not running it."
Delays in mail delivery have been reported across the country, including in D.C.'s Ward 8, where people have experienced mail delays for months. One woman told FOX 5 on Sunday that she and her neighbors had not received mail since Thursday.
President Trump's new Post Master General, Louis DeJoy, has been restructuring the agency to try to make it financially viable.
The Post Office is billions of dollars in debt and DeJoy has imposed cuts, including to overtime. He's admitted to unintended consequences impacting service due to policy changes.
Robinson, who's been with the post office since 1988, said new policies and changes seem like a deliberate attempt to impede delivery.
"It appears to me that it's a deliberate delay of the mail," Robinson said. "And it's in the fabric of all postal employees to get the mail out. And so it's hard for them to understand why are we delaying the mail?"
He also said there's a proposal to reduce hours at 24 D.C. post offices, and provided FOX 5 the list of locations that may be impacted.
On CNN's State of the Union Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows denied that mail sorting machines were being decommissioned.
"There's no sorting machines that are going offline between now and the election," Meadows said. "That's something that my Democrat friends are trying to do to stoke fear out there. That's not happening."
Also Sunday, some attorneys general said they were considering legal action to address postal problems leading up to the election, including Virginia AG Mark Herring.
"We are going to make sure that every American's vote counts this fall, whether cast by mail or in-person," said Herring in a statement. "My colleagues and I are working as we speak to determine what Trump and DeJoy are doing, whether they have already violated or are likely to violate any laws, and what tools we have at our disposal to put a stop to President Trump's ongoing attack on our postal service and our democracy."