Postal Workers Rally to Prevent Service Cuts

More than 70 postal workers and union members rallied at a busy Brookfield intersection at evening rush hour Tuesday to seek support for a federal bill they say would prevent service cuts.

"We're worried about service cuts," said Paul McKenna, president of the Milwaukee Area Local 3, which includes the Brookfield Post Office.

"We're asking people to get involved and call your congressmen to stop the attack on your postal service," he added.

Postal unions and employees rallied at sites across the country Tuesday afternoon.

McKenna said a federal bill, HR 1351, would use postal worker pension funds to avoid cuts, such as closing post offices or moving to five-day-a-week delivery. The latter, he said, could delay customers' receipt of needed Social Security checks and medications.

Another possible cut, he said, is changing the next-day delivery standard to a two-day delivery expectation. Even mail between adjacent cities then could take two days to deliver, rather than one, he said.

Kathleen Walczak, who works in the downtown Milwaukee post office on St. Paul Avenue, shouted "Save our service!" to passing motorists on Blue Mound Road, thumping her fist and giving a thumbs up to those who honked in support.

A member of the American Postal Workers Union Local 3, Walczak said she has worked for the postal service for 30 years.

"This is serious stuff," she said.