This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 25, 2013 - Sunday’s snowstorm across the state put a crimp in many activities. But not, apparently, in rallies organized across the state – including St. Louis – on behalf of the postal service.
Entitled “Save the United States Postal Service,” the rallies particularly highlighted opposition to the postal service’s proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery. The opposition was bolstered by the U.S. Senate’s proposed budget, approved Saturday, that included a clause prohibiting the end of Saturday mail service.
In St. Louis, organizers said that about 140 people turned out, many of them members of various unions or allied groups, including some clergy and some small-business owners.
The speakers at the St. Louis event included the Rev. Martin Rafanan of Missouri Jobs with Justice. “Our leaders in Washington, D.C., have a responsibility to support good jobs and get our economy on track,” he said in a statement. “The planned cuts to the U.S. Postal Service will set us back from both those important priorities. We cannot afford to be silent and watch as a plan unfolds that would cost middle class jobs in our community and reduce access to critical services.”
Labor leaders contend that the proposed cutbacks are unwarranted and unnecessary. “Everyone needs to know that the Postal Service isn’t broke. Instead, it is facing a manufactured shortfall due to an unfair congressional mandate to pre-pay for costs that won’t be due for decades,” said Kevin Boyer, state president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, in a statement issued afterwards.
“No other institution or business in this country is held to such an unrealistic standard, and this plan would cost all of us. The steep reductions proposed would be devastating to Missouri, and would hit senior citizens, small businesses and rural areas the hardest across the country.”
Boyer was referring to a congressional requirement, put in place in 2006, that requires the postal service to pre-pay money needed to pay out pension benefits. So far, Congress has yet to approve a change.
