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The U.S. Postal Service said in 2011 it had to close some post offices, consolidate processing centers and cut jobs because of a budget crisis. But now the agency says it needs to hire 400 new employees in Indiana.
However, the American Postal Workers Local 210 president says the publicity about the jobs is misleading, claiming the post office is only posting the job openings because the government requires it to do so.
Postal Service spokeswoman Mary Dando said the 400 positions throughout Indiana will replace older workers set to retire next week, at the end of the month.
But according to Local 210 president Rick Dainelli, many people who work at South Bend’s processing plant have been on edge about their jobs for the past two-and-a-half years.
“The postal service used to be a secure place to work,” Dainelli said.
Since October 2011, he said he’s seen a lot of back-and-forth from his employer.
“They said they were gonna close [the processing plant in] South Bend that May then they changed it and set it back, then they move it forward and set it back,” he added.
The plant is now set to close next year and consolidate with the plant in Fort Wayne.
According to Dianelli, about 50 South Bend AWP members took the postal service’s early retirement incentive and will be gone at the end of the month.
But Dando said she didn’t know Friday how many of the 400 state-wide "city carrier assistant" openings will be in South Bend and said she encourages people to apply anyway.
“Although we’ve seen a huge decline in First Class mail – the letters and cards – at the same time, we’ve see a huge increase in the number of addresses we're delivering to, and the most secure job you can always have in the U.S. Postal Service is the letter carrier,” Dando told WSBT. “We want, at this stage, to have a huge, as you can imagine, a huge pool of people that we can hire.”
Applications will only be taken online at www.usps.com through Sunday and the pay for the “city carrier assistant” openings is $15 with benefits, Dando said, adding this is all part of its plan to cut costs.
The Postal Service has unsuccessfully asked the federal government for help with a postal reform bill because it has had to pay the government more than $5 billion dollars a year toward future retiree health benefits. Some speculation suggests those payments created USPS’s massive debts.
But Dainelli said he doesn’t believe the Postal Service will hire 400 new people.
“Smoke and mirrors. It just looks like they’re now jobs but they’re not new jobs. The work is going to be performed in the majority by the people that are doing the job now at a less pay,” he said.
He knows he can’t control what happens in the future but said he’s not going anywhere just yet.
“We’re gonna ride it out,” he laughed. “Ride out the storm.”