PMG: USPS might choose not to pay $5.5B in retiree pre-funding costs

from NALC Activist Alert:

While speaking recently at a press conference at the National Postal Forum in San Diego, U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Patrick R. Donohoe said that the agency might choose not to pay its congressionally-mandated $5.5 billion payment to the U.S. Treasury to cover future retiree health benefit costs.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, passed by Congress in 2006, created a payment schedule requiring the USPS to pre-fund its future retiree health benefit obligation at a cost of about $5.5 billion per year for the first 10 years after the bill was passed. As the economy slowed and the recession hit, postal mail revenue declined and the pre-funding requirement became a significant burden to the Service’s annual budget.

PMG Donohoe has put forth two possible solutions: Cut jobs and cut Saturday delivery…:                   read more