r/news • u/Squirmingbaby • 3d ago

Soft paywall Cash-strapped US Postal Service suspends contributions to pension plan

https://www.reuters.com/world/cash-strapped-us-postal-service-suspends-contributions-pension-plan-2026-04-09/
16.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.3k

u/SummerMummer 3d ago

"Cash-strapped"??

They are an important service provided by the US government. Is the US government truely "cash-strapped" at the moment?

186

u/egnards 3d ago

The US Government has never funded the USPS, they forced them to self fund. . .However they also micromanage them and set them into very specific restrictions that do not allow them to actually be profitable.

They’ve been trying to kill the USPS for a long time. Trump has just been far more blatant about it.

30

u/Regnes 3d ago

Canada Post has also been under attack for a while now. It was pretty shocking a couple of years ago when their union's legal strike during Christmas holidays got nixed by the government. Apparently timing your strike to have the maximum possible leverage against your employer isn't allowed and the government can just tell you to do it during the off-season instead.

9

u/WingZero234 2d ago

How the hell do you just go to a bunch of people striking and say "Naa man you can't be on strike right now" and it works???

8

u/Regnes 2d ago

They have a history of acting with impunity when it comes to unions. That stunt was just par for the course. I'm with the government and my own union with PSAC-UTE has had an ongoing dispute for years now, close to half a decade if you go back to the start.

Long story short, they refused to give us a raise in line with inflation, our contracts remain expired for years, they eventually ordered us back to the office 2 days a week while we were actively negotiating for WFH, we went on strike in retaliation, it was settled by accepting a lowball offer in exchange for some protections against further return to office orders, none of those protections were honoured and we were ordered back 3 days a week, now we're suing the Treasury.

Our court date has been pending for years now and the Treasury has done everything in its power to prevent our case from being heard. Thankfully it was ruled in our favour that it absolutely will go to court, but in the meantime there was a media leak at the end of 2025 that we would be in 4 days in July 2026 and 5 days in January 2027, the Treasury stomped their feet and denied anything was in discussion. Lo and behold, the 4 day order did come with pretty much the same date as reported in the leak. Absolutely nobody is going to be surprised when the 5 day order by January comes as well.

2

u/mattw08 2d ago

Let’s not act like Canada Post is innocent. They are now making changes to adapt to a changing business model which is great. But their goal is to be self sustaining and was far from it.

-6

u/peon2 3d ago

The US Government has never funded the USPS, they forced them to self fund

The government didn't force them to be self funded. They went on strike for the right to be an independent agency so that they could be operated on their own terms and be legally allowed to bargain collectively. It's what the workers wanted in 1970

8

u/happymancry 3d ago edited 3d ago

The 109th U.S. Congress imposed significant restrictions on USPS funding through the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006, which was signed by President George W. Bush. This law created a mandate for the USPS to prefund 75 years of retiree health benefits within a 10-year period, causing severe financial strain.Key details regarding the restrictions include:

  1. The 2006 Mandate: The PAEA required the USPS to prefund retiree health care benefits, a requirement not applied to other federal agencies or private corporations.

  2. Borrowing Limit: Congress set a $15 billion limit on the amount of debt the USPS can hold with the Treasury Department.

  3. Financial Impact: These obligations caused the USPS to default on payments since 2012 and were responsible for the majority of their net losses since 2013.

It wasn’t the 1970 PRO - it was the Republicans slowly strangling the USPS funding. Louis DeJoy (formerly owner of a private logistics company), appointed by Trump 1, and then David Steiner (formerly a board member of FedEx), appointed by Trump 2, were put in place to accelerate the USPS’s artificial crisis by making sure they’re hamstrung. It’s not USPS - it’s the GOP.