Maine postal workers call for resignation of Postmaster General

SCARBOROUGH (WGME) -- Some Maine postal workers say they're frustrated by the recent changes made by Postmaster General Louie DeJoy.

Amid outcry, postmaster general to testify before House

"Mr. DeJoy has come in with full steam ahead, with I'm going to say, a lack of understanding of how this service works," Postal Workers Union 458 President Scott Adams said.

DeJoy recently outlined new rules, including the elimination of overtime for postal workers, and new transportation rules, such as leaving behind mail at the distribution center if it would delay letter carriers.

Workers at the Scarborough distribution center, the main hub for the USPS in Maine, say that these changes led to delays.

"The delay of this truck caused 65,000 pieces of processed mail for Maine towns to go without any mail on that day," Sanford mailhandler and Branch 122 President Patrick Donovan said. "As far as we're able to determine was directly due to the Postmaster General Louie DeJoy's new transportation rules."

The Scarborough distribution center recently had two of its 10 mail processing machines dismantled. One is going to be sent to a distribution center in New Jersey, and the other will be used as spare parts for the other eight machines. Workers say the decision was made by higher ups as a costing saving measure.

Some say they're worried how this will impact the upcoming presidential election cycle.

"There's a little bit of concern that we're going to have to man this thing differently because we only have eight machines to get through the vote by mail," Adams said.

Some Mainers say they're also worried about the upcoming election, and the post office's ability to handle the new process.

"Our access to voting is being compromised by these administrative decisions," Portland resident Neill Gemmel said.

"To have things either lost in the mail or languishing in different distribution centers is pretty disturbing," Farmingdale resident Johanna Moore said.

Adams says he is confident the USPS will handle the mail in ballot process smoothly, but says other changes are necessary to get the industry back on track.

"We're here for the survival of the postal service," Adams said. "We would like to see more federal funding... and for Mr. DeJoy to step down."

Postmaster general to appear before Senate over mail delays

DeJoy will testify before the senate on Friday morning regarding all the recent policy changes. DeJoy announced that those changes will be temporarily suspended until after the election.