N.J. postal workers file suit to close plant

TRENTON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Postal workers in New Jersey have filed suit to force the U.S. Postal Service to close a regional mail processing facility until it is declared free of anthrax, attorneys for the workers said Wednesday.

Nancy Walker, an attorney for the postal workers, told CNN the suit was prompted when two employees at the Monmouth Processing and Distribution Center in Eatontown were reported to be exhibiting "symptoms consistent with" anthrax.

"The employees are alarmed," Walker said.

Sidney Johnson, a health officer in Eatontown, told CNN late Wednesday that state and federal medical officials determined the workers were not infected with anthrax.

Anthrax spores have not been found in the plant, but environmental tests have not been completed.

Walker said U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson in Trenton is considering a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction regarding the facility.

"The judge basically was of the opinion that things were moving pretty quickly with respect to the postal facilities in New Jersey and wanted to have command of the facts," Walker said.

The complaint cited a section of the American Postal Workers Union collective bargaining agreement that requires the Postal Service to provide safe working conditions for its employees, said a statement from attorneys at the Philadelphia firm of Markowitz & Richman.

The Postal Service "has failed to provide a safe and healthful work environment for its employees by failing to close the building and test its employees due to anthrax contamination," the suit says.

The complaint calls for the Postal Service to close the Monmouth Processing and Distribution Center with full wages and benefits for employees, test all employees for anthrax and provide necessary treatment, including antibiotics, and decontaminate the facility before reopening it.

Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Willhite said a week ago the Monmouth facility would be among several facilities to undergo environmental testing in the wake of a month of anthrax contaminations and scares at postal facilities on the Eastern Seaboard.

Meanwhile, employees at 47 post offices in the greater Trenton area will get a 10-day course of antibiotics while their facilities are tested for anthrax contamination.

The stations all receive mail from the Hamilton Township center, a regional processing facility that has been found contaminated with anthrax. Two of the center's employees have been diagnosed with inhalation anthrax.