Demonstrators call on Doc to help save Postal Service

YAKIMA, WASH. -- About 20 postal workers and retirees gathered downtown Tuesday to call on Congressman Doc Hastings to support a House bill they believe could save the financially ailing U.S. Postal Service.

"Congress has backed the Postal Service management into a corner," said Jerry Gilmore, 60, a letter carrier in Yakima for the last 30 years. "They should give us a better chance to solve the problems that are giving us financial difficulties."

At issue for Gilmore and the others who demonstrated on the corner of Yakima Avenue and Fourth Street is a 2006 law passed by Congress they say is putting the Postal Service in an even deeper financial hole. The 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act mandates the Postal Service prefund 75 years worth of retirement health benefits into the Federal Employment Retirement System over a 10-year period, about $5.5 billion per year.

The Postal Service, which takes no tax dollars and is entirely self-sufficient, is the only such federal agency required to undertake such a task.

The demonstration was held in conjunction with similar ones at congressional offices around the state to encourage support for HR1351, which would allow the Postal Service to recalculate the funding necessary for retiree health benefits and return the amount overpaid. Proponents say the Postal Service had more employees and revenue when the law was passed before the ongoing recession, and now by overpaying the federal government, it is at risk to shed even more jobs and revenue.

The Postal Service is already working on a four-year effort to cut $20 billion, slash hundreds of thousands of jobs and permanently reshape itself as a leaner organization. The Postal Service has proposed closing all but two processing centers in the state, including one in Yakima, to save costs. Only centers in Seattle and Spokane would remain operating under the plan.

"We're all worried," said Ted Brown, a 72-year-old retired letter carrier who stood with the others in whipping winds to show solidarity. "Anything could happen."

Bob James, president of the state chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said in a phone interview from Everett that estimates vary on how much has been overpaid, but it is in the billions of dollars. James said as of Tuesday the bill had 216 co-sponsors, but Hastings is not among them.

A spokeswoman for Hastings in Washington, D.C., offered no comment on the bill, but said the congressman was aware of the demonstration and that members of his staff hope to meet with letter carriers sometime this week. The legislation itself has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy.

"Hopefully more people will speak up and we can grab the ear of people like Congressman Hastings," letter carrier Berneice Jenkins, 41, said.

Jenkins said downsizing is inevitable either way for the Postal Service, but she believes the legislation will ease the burden on management, workers and customers.

"We'll always have a postal service, always have letter carriers, but I don't know what it will look like down the road," Jenkins said.

* Mike Faulk can be reached at 509-577-7675 or mfaulk@yakimaherald.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Mike_Faulk.