Postal Demonstration Scheduled

A U.S. Postal Service letter carrier in Kearney says the public needs to get the facts about Senate bill 1789 that could be on the floor in the next week or two, a bill he says could destroy the postal service. Ken Nickerson, Steward, NALC Branch 312, Kearney, says there's been a misconception about the Postal Service's financial problems...
Nickerson has released the following letter.
The U.S. Postal Service does not use any taxpayer money.
The 2006 Postal Reform mandated the USPS to pre-fund 70 years of future retirees’ health benefits in 10 years. This would be the same as paying off your 30-year mortgage in about seven years. Could you do it?
Paying $5.5 billion each year, which no other government agency is required to do, has caused the problems USPS faces. About $45 billion is in this account today, which has been grossly overpaid.
In the next couple of weeks the Senate bill S.1789 will be on the floor. This bill, as written, will not save USPS, but will destroy it. S.1789 reduces the prefunding to $3 billion with Saturday delivery removed in two years if USPS does not show a profit. This will be impossible with any prefunding mandate. The Senate bill would doom the USPS.
It also will phase out door-to-door delivery for households and businesses. There are more than 35 million delivery points.
On Thursday, postal workers will demonstrate at every U.S. senator’s office to educate people on postal issues, as USPS’s future will be decided very soon. This could change the course of history, and it will, if USPS is dismantled.
This poses a danger to the entire $1.3 trillion mailing industry, tens of thousands of jobs and the threat of another recession. Yes, this danger is very real.
Kearney will be the site of a Thursday demonstration at 4111 Fourth Ave., by Sen. Mike Johanns’ office, from 5-6:30 p.m. Everyone is invited. Informative material will be provided, along with petitions.
Any postal reform bill must reverse the pre-funding mandate; this is the only way rural post offices have any chance of not being closed, along with half of the mail processing plants in the country being closed also, along with Saturday delivery.
Help postal workers continue to give you the same service you have today, tomorrow.
Call Johanns at 202-224-4224, and Sen. Ben Nelson 202-224-6551. Tell them to vote NO on S.1789........NO more prefunding!!!!