The EMU Post Office will remain open until Jan. 14 pending the Postal Regulatory Commission’s review of an appeal, which several different University organizations helped to compile last month.
The closure decision, officially announced in an Oct. 21 letter from Eugene Postmaster Paul Bastinelli, stated that the U.S. Postal Service’s nationwide fiscal crises made it necessary to consolidate its delivery network, precipitating the consolidation of the EMU office with Eugene’s Southside Station at 30 E. 33rd Ave. In the letter, Bastinelli assured postal customers that “the community’s input was received and carefully considered before making this decision.”
Combined efforts of the ASUO and International Student Association last month, including a Dec. 1 rally outside of the EMU office’s front doors, yielded a petition with more than 1,000 faculty, staff and student signatures. The name-laden petition was included in an appeal mailed to the PRC on Nov. 16 by an anonymous post office customer, barely inside the 30-day appeal period window which commenced with the posting of Bastinelli’s letter.
The appeal is now under review by the PRC, which has exercised regulatory oversight of the U.S. Postal Service since its creation in 1970. A notice currently posted in the office states that mailbox holders can access their mail until Jan. 14, after which they will be forced to move their business more than a mile to the Southside Station. The notice gives no reason for the closure delay, though Ken Rosemarin, a representative of the Eugene locale of the American Postal Workers Union, said the hesitation is a result of Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio’s involvement in the matter.
“The University’s reaction woke DeFazio up, though he had his attention on many different issues,” Rosemarin said. “The squeaky wheel does get the grease.”
To help with the legal process and any prosecution needs, the APWU has hired who Rosemarin described as a “very high-priced lawyer” for representation if the union decides to combat the pending closure decision.
“It’s going to come down to the last minute,” the representative said, “and it’s going to be a bunch of legalistic wrangling.”
Brian Dunn, a Northwest Region National Business Agent for the APWU, credits the closure delay to the proactive and organized efforts from student groups, namely the ASUO.
“The single most important action came from the student organizations,” Dunn said. “If there is one thing I can emphasize is how impressed and proud I am … by the students’ gathering of all of these signatures.”
Dunn and other members of his union met with DeFazio’s staff during the third week of December, which the business agent said mainly served as an opportunity for union members to provide the representative with a copy of the petition.
“The meeting was meaningless compared to when we handed over the petition,” Dunn said. “That was it.”
ASUO Legislative Affairs Coordinator Molly Bennison is coordinating the group’s campaign to delay the office’s closure and said that its appeal on file with the PRC might just keep the facility’s doors open.
“There is a possibility that (the Postal Service) may remand the decision,” Bennison said. “I think the fact that it has been postponed had made us all optimistic.”
Higher Education
EMU Post Office to close pending appeal
Daily Emerald
January 3, 2011
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