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Letter Carriers In Roseville Hold Informational Picket

ROSEVILLE (WWJ) - As the cash-strapped US Postal Service talks about doing away with Saturday mail to save money...letter carriers across the nation held informational pickets Tuesday.

The protest in Roseville was organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers' Barbara Neubauer.

"The postal service would have made $611 million, if it was not for having to pre-fund $5.4 billion every year - so we're not broke, we just want our money back that the government is holding in accounts," Neubauer tells WWJ' Sandra NcNeill.

Dozens of letter carriers - carrying picket signs saying 'Save Our Postal Service' in front of the office of Congressman Sander Levin.

The postal workers compliant? Too much money in their pension plans.

Workers like 90-year-old, retired postal carrier, Bill Hess says while mail volumes are down about five percent, it's the real reason why the post office is in real trouble.

"They are charging us 5 billion dollars to pay into a system for retirement ... for future retirees, and it's killing the post office," says Hess. "If they didn't have to pay that every year, we'd be fine."

The union is pushing congress to change the law before the post office is forced to cancel Saturday mail. Which is a move that letter carriers say would cost tens of thousands of jobs.

 

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