A public meeting to discuss the fate of the Mail Processing and Distribution Center in South Charleston and its 800 jobs has been delayed by the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s ten-year “Delivering for America” plan includes overhauling regional mail processing and distribution centers. Many believe that will either close or significantly reduce the facility in Charleston, moving the processing of most West Virginia mail to a facility in the Pittsburgh area.
On Jan. 12, 2024, the USPS announced a public meeting for Jan. 30, 2024, to allow members of the public to discuss the review. In a press release the USPS announced the delay, saying they needed more time to finalize their recommendations.
A date for the rescheduled meeting has not been released, but the organization said it would be in the next several weeks.
The Charleston Postal Workers Union Local 133 released a separate statement that read in part.
“Local union officials have persistently reached out to the postal service in efforts to obtain information they were to release on Jan. 23, 2024, to no avail. Numerous grievances have been filed throughout this MPFR process due to the postal service’s inability to abide by their handbooks and manuals that govern such movement. We will continue to work with our elected officials, the AFL-CIO and affiliate unions in the state to fight the Postal Service plans on moving your mail to Pittsburgh to be processed. The public survey is still available to take, and we encourage everyone to do so.”
The public may comment on the proposed changes at this link. View previous reporting on this subject here.
