MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Three USPS mail sorting machines have been dismantled in Montgomery County within the last couple of days, Maryland American Postal Workers Union said.
The union says the dismantled machines have added an additional two hours to workers' workflow in sorting the mail due to USPS employees having to do it manually.
Nannette Corley, president of the Montgomery County American Postal Workers Union, said sorting machines are being dismantled at post offices across the state.
"I've been with the post office for 26 years and I have never seen such a dismantle of the postal work," Corley said. "I want to make it very clear that the postal workers are very hard workers and we want to move the mail."
Corley – whose position is headed by American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein – said that her staff, along with Dimondstein, are working to get control under the new direction of the post office.
Corley stated that her mailing facility had 25 machines, of which three have been dismantled.
"Between the last four or five days they have been dismantled, and they're destroying the parts of it. They are saving or recycling what they can," Corley said.
Corley said that workers have put in the information request to find out the locations of where "blue boxes" for mail drop-off have been removed.
Concerns erupted last week when it became known that the USPS recently sent letters of warning to 46 states, including Maryland, Virginia and D.C., indicating that it could not guarantee all mail-in ballots cast for the November election would arrive in time to be counted.
The concerns over mail-in ballots came after weeks of mail delays during the pandemic.
Since then, details have emerged on policy changes made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that include cuts to overtime and the removal of mail sorting machines.
Maryland congressional leaders called for billions of dollars in relief to be passed during a gathering on Monday, while at least one leader called for the resignation of Postmaster General DeJoy.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was joined by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Reps. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) and John Sarbanes (D-MD), and other political and union leaders during a rally outside a Postal Service distribution center in Baltimore.
On Monday, Rep. Mfume did not mince words when he took aim at Dejoy, a major Trump donor.
"Mr. DeJoy, do us all a favor. Even before the hearings, submit your letter of resignation," he said. "We are not going to stand for it and I hope people across this country don’t stand for it.”