Kucinich Stands in Solidarity with Postal Workers; Calls for End of Prefund Mandate

Press Release

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today stood in solidarity with postal workers across America and with ten postal activists as they begin a four-day hunger strike to protest Congress's "starving" of the United States Postal Service through cuts to service and a 2006 Congressional mandate to prefund retirement benefits for postal to the tune of $5.5 billion per year.. The Postal Service is the only federal agency required to do this. The prefunding mandate is considered by many to be one of the primary reasons the postal service is facing financial difficulties.

"America has had one of the best postal services, a service that people rely on. It is a singularly important service for our country. I stand here today in solidarity with postal workers across the country who are calling on Congress and the Postmaster General to protect the United States Postal Service," said Kucinich.

Kucinich led the activists to the front of the Capitol Building to demand Congress end the prefund mandate. "There is an effort to take down the postal service. It is clear that the prefunding mandate is part of a mechanism to wreck the postal service. This is going in the direction of privatization. We must not allow privatization of the postal service. We must protect this vital service."

"I will continue to fight any efforts to weaken the Postal Service, including any efforts to privatize essential services. There are ways to generate revenue without cutting jobs, essential services and closing vital post office branches in communities that rely on them"

"I want to thank my friends who are here today to fight for what is right. I applaud your courage. I am here in moral support of your efforts," added Kucinich.

Also speaking at the event were representatives of letter carriers, mail handlers and other postal workers. According to Communities and Postal Workers United, the group organizing the hunger strike in Washington D.C., sympathetic hunger strikes will take place nationwide in Seattle, Olympia, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.

The activists will gather in vigil from 8-9 am and every afternoon from 5 -- 6:30 pm outside the Rayburn House Office Building on Independence Avenue.

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