A postal worker delivers mail with the aid of a head-mounted flashlight. The union said workers had to work into the a.m. hours

The local post office union boss is lashing out at the postal service in Albuquerque, claiming employees are working odd hours and even being cheated out of restroom breaks.

Arthur Prouse is the president of the American Postal Workers Union in Albuquerque. As a former postal worker, he said he has never seen conditions for workers as bad as they are now.

"In my 35 years in the government service, I've never seen a lower ebb in the postal service than we're currently in in the city of Albuquerque," he said.

Prouse said the 750 postal workers he represents are telling him they can't keep up with their work and customers are suffering as a result.

"They've reduced staffing to the point that it's killing service to the customers," he said.

Prouse said clerks aren't getting restroom breaks and injured carriers are filling in as clerks, which is against their contract. Some postal carriers are out until 1:30 a.m. delivering mail, using miner flashlights to see.

"At some of the stations around the city, there's mail that's been sitting there for three weeks, including prescription medication," he said.

And at the post office, customers are waiting in longer lines because of understaffing.

"They're saying customer service is paramount," Prouse said. "Yet on the other side of their mouth, they've got stations around the city with four and five customer service windows and they're only putting one clerk behind that window."

Last week, post office spokesperson Barbara Wood said postal carriers were out late because of recent route adjustments.

Wood also said the mail service has had to deal with budget cutbacks, resulting in staffing cuts.

Prouse said he made several attempts to bring his concerns to the postmaster, but hasn't had much luck.

Reducing staff is hurting our customers all over the world. I don't think the PO is making cuts where it should be.