Local postal workers hosted a rally Saturday outside the Central Point Post Office to protest consolidation plans that local carriers say would send postal jobs to Portland and hurt local service levels.

Local postal union members plan to max out the capacity at a U.S. Postal Service meeting set for 3-5 p.m. Wednesday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Medford.

The meeting is slated to accept public comment on a plan that could result in a portion of local postal operations being moved to a regional distribution facility in Portland.

Local workers say the move will do away with 18 local jobs and cause delays for mail delivery service in Southern Oregon.

Postal Service officials say consolidation plans are being considered, but final decisions have not been made. The facilities review is part of the USPS “Deliver for America” plan, geared at improving efficiency of mail service by creating a dozen regional mail-processing facilities around the country, including one in Portland.

Two-dozen postal workers protested the plan Saturday in sweltering heat outside the Central Point Post Office. Workers showed up with sun hats and water coolers to wave signs.

Phoenix resident Jill Buchman, a Postal Service employee for over seven years, said the ongoing process is “only a formality” and that preliminary results posted online provide details on plans to cut jobs and make big changes to local service.

A mail-processing clerk at the postal distribution facility on Sage Road in Medford, Buchman used a bullhorn, yelling to passing motorists, “Stop the delay of our mail!”

“They already published that they’re intending to get rid of 17 craft positions and one manager. Seems pretty specific to me,” Buchman said, noting that the Sage Road operation consists of 55 to 60 employees.

“The biggest concern is they’ll be moving our outgoing parcels and incoming parcels to Portland, which will add an extra day to delivery of our local mail. … Express mail is guaranteed overnight. If they make these changes, if a customer pays for express mail, they won’t get it.”

Buchman worried about delays to medications delivered by mail and impacts to election ballots.

“If somebody wants their ballot to be counted, and they put it in one of our blue collection boxes, it won’t be postmarked in time, and their vote won’t even count. It’ll go up to Portland and be postmarked the next day,” she said.

“Honestly, their entire plan is something we all should be very concerned about.”

Kim Frum, strategic communications specialist for USPS, confirmed preliminary results show possible reductions to operations at the Medford facility. Frum reiterated Monday that plans have not been finalized and that public input is still being accepted.

“We are still in the review process, meaning studies are still underway, public comments are still being accepted, and the Postal Service is continually monitoring the impact of any adjustments that are implemented and will adjust plans as necessary and appropriate,” Frum said in an email to the Rogue Valley Times.

“Let me be clearer. The Postal Service has a proven track record of working with affected employees to find opportunities at other locations. As a responsible employer, we are working with the unions and management associations to work through this initiative. If we move forward, we will follow requirements of the collective bargaining agreements where they apply, and all requirements of the law.”

Financially, reduction in operations at the Medford facility, based on initial findings, show a savings of between $3.9 million and $6.4 million between transportation savings ($2.9 million-$4.9 million), maintenance ($610,000 to $1 million), mail processing ($25,000-$420,000) and management ($60,000 to $110,000).

Zane Longden, vice president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 342, said Saturday’s protest was part of an ongoing fight “to keep the already efficient mail service standards we have for the citizens of the Rogue Valley and to ensure our community can stay competitive in support of our economy.”

Longden urged community members to attend the Wednesday meeting. The Hilton Garden Inn is at 1000 Welcome Way, Medford.

“This is our last chance to show that our community has serious concerns about this plan. We need to pack the room and have people turned away due to the USPS’s choices to book a venue that only seats 175 people,” Langdon said.

“Having to turn people away is going to build a case that USPS did not provide for adequate public involvement.”

Craig Gordon, a postal clerk at the carrier annex on Sage Road and a postal employee since 1998, said Postal Service officials may have “violated the law by not giving outlying communities an opportunity to comment on how they will be affected by these changes.”

Gordon said elections clerks as well as residents in rural communities rely on the Medford distribution facility and should all be informed of proposed changes. He said it was unfair for communities as far away as Klamath County, which rely on the Medford facility, to drive two hours to attend the meeting Wednesday.

“The bottom line is that they’re not really improving mail service. They’re not modernizing anything in a way that impacts the public in a positive way,” Gordon said. “They’re just doing what fits their plan.”

To submit comment on initial results, see www.surveymonkey.com/r/mpfr-medford-or

Comments will be accepted until Aug. 24.

To read more information about the USPS facilities review, see https://about.usps.com/what/strategic-plans/mpfr/welcome.htm