At a stop in Auburn Monday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said his office has been flooded with complaints from central New Yorkers who are experiencing the consequences from the changes that the Trump administration is making to the Post Office.
Tom Dlugolenski, president of the Syracuse chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers union that represents Post Office employees, said the actions taken recently by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy - everything from removing mail sorting machines to reducing overtime - are hampering post office locations across the country.
"People's mail is showing up three days late or nine days late," D'lugolenski said. "The delay of the federal mail is something that should not happen and it's against federal law. Federal law 18 U.S.C. 1700 says no one should retard the delivery of the mail. It's our position that what the postmaster general is doing is illegal."
Schumer said the steps DeJoy is taking not only threaten around 1,700 jobs in central New York, they have larger ramifications as well.
"Now that we have COVID, the Post Office is needed more than ever," Schumer said. "Veterans, senior citizens, so many people depend on the Post Office. To dismantle it makes no sense and then you have this election issue."
Schumer recently met with DeJoy, who told him the motivation for the overhaul of the Post Office is to make it more efficient. Unsatisfied with that explanation, Schumer is calling for DeJoy to testify in the Senate about these developments. He is scheduled to appear before the House next week.
In the meantime, Schumer has introduced legislation to undo the changes that were made this year and require mail-in ballots to be treated as first-class mail.
