Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A group of current and former postal workers staged a rally outside of the U.S. Post Office on South Walnut Street downtown Tuesday to protest what they call a reduction in staffing since mid-July.

Dominic Corso, president of Local 443 of the American Postal Workers union, said the rally was designed to put pressure on the Postal Service to restore staffing and hours at the Youngstown Post Office to the levels before mid-July.

This is the second Youngstown rally in two weeks, he said.

Corso said there is a backlog of 150,000 pieces of mail. It’s because the processing center in Youngstown used to have seven mail processing machines, which need two employees each to run. Now they use four machines, Corso said. Overtime also has been reduced, he said.

“People need their checks. Their prescriptions are delayed,” Corso said of the impact of reductions in hours worked.

The good news, he said, is that the U.S. Postal Service has increased hours worked in recent weeks but is “not enough.”

With heated debate over mail delays, the U.S. House last weekend approved legislation that would reverse recent changes in Postal Service operations and send $25 billion to shore up the agency ahead of the November election.

President Donald Trump urged a no vote, railing against mail-in ballots expected to surge in the COVID-19 crisis.

An uproar over mail disruptions puts the Postal Service at the center of the nation’s tumultuous election year, with Americans rallying around one of the nation’s oldest and more popular institutions. Millions of people are expected to opt for mail-in ballots to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.

Facing a backlash over operational changes, new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified Friday in the Senate that his “No. 1 priority” is to ensure election mail arrives on time.

But the new postal leader, a Trump ally, said he would not restore the cuts to mailboxes and sorting equipment that already have been made.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.