Mail plants in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo stay open

Workers and politicians in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo praised the U.S. Postal Service?s decision Thursday to back off plans to close mail processing plants and eliminate hundreds of jobs in their cities.

For mail clerks and other postal workers, the announcement clears up months of uncertainty about whether they?d have to move, change jobs or be laid off. For the cities, it means they?ll retain good-paying jobs that employ a diverse range of residents. For customers and businesses that rely on timely mail service, the decision means fears of service delays are allayed.

?A great weight and stress has been lifted off of the employees. For that, I?m very happy. We can go back to what we do best, which is processing mail,? said Dan Skemp, president of the postal workers? union at the Cedar Rapids plant. Under the initial proposal, the plant?s 180 jobs would have been transferred to Milan, Ill. ?It?s less homes on the market. More people buying in Cedar Rapids. More people in the schools in Cedar Rapids. I think it?s a major gain for Cedar Rapids by keeping it here.?

Skemp said he believed the decision was influenced by statistics that showed it was one of the agency?s most efficient plants. He said another factor was likely an analysis showed that the Milan plant would have needed a pricey expansion ? costing millions of dollars ? to accommodate the extra work.

The postal service had been studying whether to close the plants in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo in an effort to downsize its nationwide processing and distribution network, a move triggered by a significant drop in mail volume. The agency said its review, which was started in September, found ?no significant opportunity to improve efficiency or service? by closing either one.

The postal service announced Thursday that work done in processing facilities in Carroll and Creston will move to Des Moines, resulting in the elimination of three jobs in Carroll and none in Creston.

Bruce Clark, president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union and a postal employee in Dubuque, said he wasn?t happy about the closures in Carroll and Creston, and feared mail service would be slowed in those areas. The closures were probably inevitable, Clark said, because mail was processed by hand, not automated machinery.

However, he deemed the decision to keep Waterloo and Cedar Rapids open ?fantastic.? Clark credited pressure from the communities and Iowa?s congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Waterloo Democrat.

Workers, local politicians and businesses had also joined the attempt to save the plants.

Among the defenders of the Cedar Rapids plant was city council member Justin Shields, who bluntly told postal officials during a public hearing in November he believed their minds were made up and were now ?trying to soften folks up for the final blow.? He said Thursday he was ecstatic about the news.

?Obviously, it avoids a big economic disaster,? he said. ?It just appeared to me to be a terrible decision, but I thought they were prepared to make it. I congratulate them for re-evaluating and listening to folks.?

In Waterloo, about 140 workers would have been affected had the plant closed, moving the work to Des Moines.

Waterloo Mayor Buck Clark said he had been concerned about what the loss of jobs would have meant for his city, just as the economy is starting to turn around. He said he had argued that the agency should not save money ?on the backs of workers.?

?Those arguments were made, and obviously somebody was listening,? he said. ?It?s very, very good news. There are so many really positive things going on in our city right now, and this would have been taking a step backwards.?