SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - On Tuesday, the US Postal Service announced it had made its final decision regarding the distribution center in Springfield. The processing aspect of the facility will be closing and that part of the operation will be moved to the St. Louis location.
Lincoln Land Area Local 239 represents postal workers in Springfield and says this change was made with little regard to the impact it would have on the community. President Johnny Bishop says with the change, mail will take longer to be delivered. According to Bishop right now, over 60% of mail in the area is delivered on time. He expects with this change, that number would drop below 50%.
"You've got a lot of people in central Illinois, your rural communities, and across the country where they're dependent on getting their medications on a certain time," said Bishop. "It's during election time, why would Illinois have their ballots sent to another state to be processed and then come back here?"
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Bishop says there is not a lot of transparency as to whose jobs will be impacted and how processes at the facility will be changed. USPS says no career employees will be laid off, but 19 jobs in Springfield will be impacted.
Bishop says those employees will likely be required to move to keep their jobs. According to national numbers, and documentation within in the office, he thinks that number will be closer to 33.
He also believes some services will likely be cut. For example, in rural communities like Riverton or Rochester, mail is picked up once in the morning and once at night. That number could be reduced to once per day.
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