This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 28, 2011 - Seeking to stave off looming cuts to the nation's mail service and convince Congress to give the Postal Service more leeway in payments to its retiree health fund, several hundred postal workers rallied across the street from the downtown branch of the St. Louis Post Office.
Demonstrators held up signs, waved flags and soaked in supportive honks from passing vehicles. The rally was coordinated with other demonstrations around the state and across the country and comes as lawmakers in Washington wrestle over the systemic problems of the United States Postal Service.
As the Beacon reported this month, the U.S. Postal Service has been in a financial crunch for some time. Besides losing income every year, it is staring down a $5.5 billion payment to its retirees' health-benefit fund by Sept. 30.
The U.S. Postal Service also announced a plan to close hundreds of mail-sorting centers across the country, possibly including ones in Springfield, Ill., and Cape Girardeau, as well under-used post offices. While that plan would save money in the long run, it could also slow down mail delivery and would result in the loss of thousands of jobs.
Through signs and speeches, demonstrators expressed support for legislation that would delay the payment by 90 days, providing time for Congress to hash out a plan for the agency's viability.
"Our reasoning is that Postal Service is the only federal agency that has to pay the funding," said Fred Wolfmeyer, president of the St. Louis Gateway District Area Local of the American Postal Workers Union. "We're the only one saddled with this mandate. And we're the only one saddled if you take any private corporation; no other corporation has this requirement placed on it. It's the postal service only. We feel it's unfair. And we feel the money that we've overpaid into our pension funds, which is our money, would satisfy that obligation."
That bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Ma., has received support from Missouri lawmakers such as U.S. Reps. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis. The bill has also been cosponsored by Republican U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, whose district encompasses the Cape Girardeau mail-sorting center.
Carnahan, who spoke at the rally, provided support for the legislation, which is known as HR 1351.
"These rallies nationwide are important," Carnahan said. "I hear there are hundreds going on around the country today. This is going to send a really clear message."
Issa's Alternative Plan
While the bill has over 200 cosponsors, it's not the only proposal moving through the pipeline.
For instance, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, supports legislation empowering the postmaster general to close post offices and retire employees. Among other things, Issa and Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Florida, introduced legislation that would allow:
- Saturday postal service to be eliminated.
- An internal committee to shut down post offices.
- Post office employees to contribute to health and life insurance premiums.
- Advertisements on vehicles and facilities to garner more revenue.
The bill has passed through committee and is being sponsored in the Senate by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
"Getting to a profitable situation with the core business is our requirement, and that is all I am dedicated to," Issa said in a statement after the bill advanced out of a House committee.
An unsigned memo posted on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's website supporting Issa's position took a dim view of alterations to the prefunding requirement for retiree health benefits. The document stated the system was put in place to "protect taxpayers from covering USPS' large unfunded liability on retiree health-care benefits."
"Within the next few years, the annual costs of paying current benefits will dwarf current costs," the memo stated. "Saving now is the only way to make this affordable later and prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout."
If the Postal Service were allowed to stop the prepayments, the memo continues, it could result in unfunded liability later in the decade.
"This would clearly be an unaffordable burden for an entity whose core business and revenue is steadily shrinking," the memo stated. "It would likely result in a taxpayer funded bailout of postal workers' retiree health-care payments."
Wolfmeyer, however, said he "doesn't buy that argument."
"Like I said, if they take the overpayment into the pension fund, the pre-funding requirement for the future retirees' health care will be satisfied," Wolfmeyer said. "And I don't understand why, and I don't know if any other people do, is why we're paying for somebody's health-care benefits that's not even born yet."
The memo states that the retiree formula was "instituted as part of a broader set of decisions" regarding the Postal Service. It also said that the Postal Service failed to raise postage rate to cover costs, "including the cost of retiree funding."
Calling H.R. 1351 a "more reasonable bill," Wolfmeyer said the measure "doesn't strip us of our collective bargaining rights or set up two new government oversight committees as Issa's bill" does.
With congressional action still on the horizon, Wolfmeyer said President Barack Obama may act ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.
"I think that there's actually going to be a waiver of that payment, if I'm not mistaken," Wolfmeyer said. "I believe President Obama suggested that be done, that they get a 90-day period -- a waiver, if you will -- until Congress can get together and decide what bill they would pass through the House."
Jason Rosenbaum, a freelance writer for the Beacon, covers state government and politics.
