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May 17, 2005Ten postal employees to lose jobsWork headed to Traverse CityByRecord-Eagle staff writer GAYLORD - The work of 10 local postal employees will be delivered to Traverse City. Within a month, second- and third-class mail will be sent from Grand Rapids to the U.S. Postal Service sorting plant on Garfield Road, rather than to a plant in Gaylord. That will mean about 10 part-time postal employees in Gaylord will lose their jobs, said Susan Pfeifer, spokeswoman for the Greater Michigan District of the Postal Service. "The machine in Traverse City can sort many more pieces per hour than the machine in Gaylord," Pfeifer said. The Traverse City plant can process 2,000 pieces of mail each hour, compared to 700 in Gaylord. Full-time employees in Gaylord may experience some job description changes as a result, Pfeifer said, but they will retain their jobs. Affected mail includes magazines, newsletters, large envelopes and some packages. Priority and express packages are not included in the sorting shift. The loss of 10 jobs is more difficult for union president John Marcotte to rationalize. He said efficiency problems in Gaylord could have been corrected if full-time employees were hired to fill 20 vacant positions over the last four years. He said part-time workers were hired instead, none of whom qualified for medical or retirement benefits. There are 65 members of the American Postal Workers' Union Local 4881 from among the more than 100 employees at the Gaylord processing plant and post office. Franny McKenney is one of the part-time workers who will be laid off. "It's going to affect a lot of lives," she said. McKenney said she will try to find work elsewhere, but is confused by why the change was needed, as Gaylord is more centrally-located than Traverse City. Marcotte acknowledges the equipment is faster in Traverse City, but does not think it will improve delivery time, especially to those in the northern reaches of Lower Michigan. He fears first-class mail also may be shipped to Traverse City for sorting in the future, he said.
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