Union wary of Postal Service’s plans for KCK center

A union leader has criticized the U.S. Postal Service’s proposal to close a facility in Kansas City, Kan., that employs 300 people. John Savala, president of National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 297, said a recent public hearing on the matter left him and his organization frustrated.

The postal facility in question is a processing and distribution center at 5215 Richland Ave. The Postal Service has proposed consolidating its operations into a bigger facility in Kansas City, Mo.

The Postal Service has indicated that no layoffs would occur as a result of any consolidation. About 240 employees would be transferred to the Missouri center, and the remaining workers would leave through attrition.

Richard Watkins, a Postal Service spokesman for the Mid-America District, said changing economic conditions were forcing the Postal Service to adapt and make its own changes. The proposal to close the Kansas City, Kan., center is part of a national study by the Postal Service evaluating its operations.

The volume of the Postal Service’s most profitable product, first-class mail, has dropped 22 percent since the late 1990s, Watkins said, while costs continue to rise. As first-class mail volume declines, it makes sense for the Postal Service to examine consolidating operations from a leased facility to one it owns that has nearly 500,000 square feet of available capacity, according to Watkins.

Watkins said a study had shown that nearly USD 5.7 million could be saved annually by combining the operations.