The Catskill Chronicle

Immediate Bipartisan Congressional Action is Crucial to Saving Jobs

KINGSTON, NY – Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) yesterday vowed bipartisan congressional action to fight against the proposed closure of the Mid Hudson Processing and Distribution Center located in Newburgh, NY. The facility was included on a list of 223 processing facilities slated for closure by the US Postal Service (USPS) starting in May 2012. Hinchey has been a staunch opponent of closing the Newburgh facility, which employs 385 workers. He is also working to pass legislation to address the underlying financial troubles faced by USPS.

"The Postal Service has failed to justify the proposed closure of the Mid Hudson Processing and Distribution Center in Newburgh, and I’m going to do everything I can to block their efforts," said Hinchey. "They’ve said publicly that a closure moratorium is in place until May, but they’re already laying the groundwork to shift around resources and workers. They’ve said that consolidating the facility will save money, but they have yet to publicly release the data or the assumptions that caused them to arrive at this conclusion.  In fact the only way to consolidate these facilities is to lengthen first class delivery times, making USPS even less competitive. Closing the Newburgh facility would be a huge mistake. We need immediate bipartisan congressional action or else hundreds of workers will lose their jobs and postal services throughout our communities will be downgraded."

In August 2011, Hinchey urged Postmaster General Donahoe to prevent the closure of the Newburgh facility after the USPS initiated an Area Mail Processing (AMP) study to consider consolidation with a similar facility in Albany, New York. Hinchey offered official comments opposing the potential closure of the facility on December 1, 2011. Later that December, Hinchey sent another letter to Postmaster General Donahoe signed by 37 other House members opposing the proposed closure of mail processing and distribution centers nationwide.

Hinchey is a cosponsor of legislation designed to help ease the financial challenges currently faced by USPS. The United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011 (H.R. 1351) would free up billions in financial resources for USPS for years to come. Under current law, the Postal Service is required to pre-fund health care benefits of future retirees at a cost of over $5 billion annually. H.R. 1351 would help reduce the financial burden of this requirement by allowing the Postal Service to use billions of dollars in overpayments to their pension fund to pre-fund healthcare benefits of future retirees. The legislation is strongly supported by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Hinchey has also joined several of his US House colleagues in introducing the Postal Service Protection Act – legislation designed to alleviate the US Postal Service’s (USPS) immediate financial crisis and prevent the layoff of thousands of USPS employees nationwide.

(Photo by Carol Montana)