
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 25, 1995                   TAG: 9504260056
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: BUSINESS   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY D. DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE DELAYS TAKEOVER OF ORKAND PLANT

The Orkand Corp.'s Salem mail-processing facility, which had been scheduled for takeover by the U.S. Postal Service today, has gotten a three-month extension. Meanwhile, the government agency is deciding how many of Orkand's 500 workers it will hire.

Last May, the Postal Service said it would take over the remote-bar-coding operation on Apperson Drive by April 25. That date has been moved to Aug. 4.

The company has been told that the Postal Service would assume operation of a similar facility in Lynchburg on Feb. 22, but that facility was not taken over until April 1.

``We have no official notice yet,'' John Gracza, program director for Orkand, said Monday. ``Those were the dates we were given.''

Orkand opened the facilities in late 1992 when the Postal Service began contracting with outside firms for the computerized coding of incorrectly addressed mail.

After the American Postal Workers Union protested the move of jobs outside the Postal Service, an arbitrator ruled that the jobs should be offered first to postal workers.

The agency delayed taking over the two operations to make sure it had the resources - employees and equipment - to make as smooth a transition as possible, said Jeff Zabriskie, manager of the Lynchburg facility.

``You have to stop one operation and begin another,'' he said. ``You have to do it overnight.''

Despite the extension, Gracza said he doesn't expect any more delays.

``We're fairly confident that the new date will actually take place,'' he said.

When the takeover was announced, there was concern about how many of the Orkand employees would be hired for the new operation. So far in Lynchburg, the Postal Service has hired 87 percent of Orkand's 398 employees, Zabriskie said. Out of the remaining 51 people, some may be hired pending physical exams, background checks and drug tests, standard for all Postal Service employees.

Zabriskie said he expects the same percentage for the Salem operation will be hired.

Gracza said he thinks ``the majority [of the Orkand processors] will be picked up.''

``Some will fall out [because of] the background check and drug tests,'' he said. ``Also, not everyone wants to work for the Postal Service.''

The Postal Service is paying Lynchburg processors $9.74 an hour, compared with an hourly wage of $6.50 to $7.79 when they worked for Orkand. Although the hourly wage for postal workers is higher, the agency has discontinued benefits such as holiday pay and health insurance because the mail processors are classified as transitional.

Orkand employees who opt to work for the Postal Service will not have to join the Postal Workers Union. "That's an option that they have,'' Zabriskie said.

Orkand, which said last week it will move its headquarters from Silver Spring, Md., to Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia, expects to lose all of its mail-processing contracts, which account for about 15 percent of its $65 million annual revenue.

``It doesn't put us out of business,'' Gracza said.

by CNB