Idaho Postal Workers Rally To Save USPS

Union postal workers rallied across the country and here in Idaho yesterday. They want local lawmakers on board with a plan to pull the agency from the brink of financial collapse without layoffs, cutbacks or closures. 

They also say what they want isn’t a bailout. The US Postal Service says it will be billions of dollars short for a big debt payment due this Friday. But union workers argue the decrease in sent mail isn’t really why they’re in danger of default.  They say it’s because of a law passed in 2006 that requires prepaying into a pension fund.  The legislation those at the rally want is HR 1351, a resolution that would allow the Postal Service to stave off default by using billions of dollars from a pension fund for future retirees, one the unions and workers say is overfunded.  Union representatives say using that money is a clean solution they want to try, but they admit, it might not be enough to protect the USPS forever. Congress is looking at a budget measure that would postpone a $5.5 billion payment for another six weeks.  The Senate already passed that measure Monday, and now the House must decide.