Protesters Put Stamp on Mail Delivery Dispute

Postal and union officials will meet today to discuss mail delivery problems in western Glendale that triggered a demonstration by unhappy customers at the Grand Central Post Office.

Residents complained that their home delivery service is often late and that mail frequently is missing or left at the wrong address. They said service got worse after delivery routes were expanded and carriers’ assignments changed July 20.

“Mail delivery is a disaster throughout our area,” said Ruth Ann Richards, a Fairfield Street resident and one of a dozen protesters who marched in stifling heat Monday in front of the post office at 840 Sonora Ave. “Hundreds of people are being affected. We are not being treated fairly as customers.”

Richards said residents resorted to a picket line after they failed to receive a response to their calls and letters of protest. More than 200 residents signed petitions in August asking that the previous level of service be restored, Richards said.

Complaints arose after two of 19 delivery routes were eliminated to achieve greater efficiency, said interim Postmaster Robert Williamson, who took over this month after the retirement of veteran Glendale Postmaster Hal Hemmingsen.

Williamson said he was not aware of letters and petitions from the neighborhood. He said he did receive one letter from a resident concerned about the status of a mail carrier who was promoted to a new position.

Leroy Collier, president of the Glendale-Pasadena branch of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers, attributed the complaints to the reorganization of routes and the reassignment of 70% of the 35 postal workers at the Grand Central office. The union represents about 1,100 postal workers in the area.

Collier said the new routes are excessively long and cannot be completed in a normal work day. He also said many carriers are part-time employees and new to the area.

“We will be asking that routes be properly adjusted,” Collier said. He said the massive reassignment of carriers at a single post office was unusual.

But Williamson, who is meeting with Collier today, said route adjustments “go on all the time.”