About 20 local postal workers picketed a Van Nuys post office Friday morning for three hours, citing what they see as job-killing service cuts on the horizon.
The U.S. Postal Service is consolidating service starting in January in a move expected to save $3.5 billion over five years, impacting 15,000 employees. A statement from the service says efforts will be made to reassign them and avoid layoffs.
The service expects average first-class mail delivery time to slow down by just over an hour, to 2.25 days, but the postal union contends overnight service will virtually disappear.
"The cuts would cause hardships for the public and small businesses, eliminate jobs, and destroy the world's most efficient and affordable delivery network by driving away mail and revenue," according to a press release from the San Fernando Valley chapter of the American Postal Workers Union.
The action is being coordinated with post offices across the country.
