Month: April 2026

USPS Suspends FERS Funding: What Postal Workers Need to Know Now

The United States Postal Service has announced a major financial move that directly affects how retirement is funded. On April 9, 2026, USPS confirmed it will begin a cash conservation plan by temporarily suspending its employer contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System pension, also known as the FERS annuity.

This decision, made by the USPS Board of Governors and effective April 10, is being taken to preserve cash as the Postal Service faces what it describes as a severe financial situation. USPS currently pays about $200 million every two weeks into the FERS pension system. By suspending these payments, the Postal Service expects to free up approximately $2.5 billion this fiscal year. USPS has stated that without actions like this, it could face a cash shortfall as early as February 2027.

It is critical for members to understand exactly what is and is not changing.

Employee contributions to FERS continue as normal. Thrift Savings Plan contributions, including USPS automatic and matching contributions, also continue. Social Security contributions remain unchanged. Employees will continue to earn retirement service credit, and USPS states there is no immediate impact to current employees or retirees. Current union contracts are not affected.

What has changed is that USPS is temporarily stopping its share of pension funding. This means the Postal Service is not contributing its portion to the FERS annuity while employees continue to contribute their share.

USPS has stated this is a temporary measure intended to buy time while Congress considers financial and structural changes, including borrowing authority increases, retirement funding adjustments, and cost reforms. At the same time, USPS has confirmed it has already reduced its workforce by more than 28,000 employees and cut 56 million work hours as part of ongoing cost-cutting efforts.

What This Means for Postal Workers

Right now, your paycheck, your contributions, and your retirement calculations are not changing. Your benefits remain in place today. However, USPS is no longer funding its portion of the pension system during this period, which reflects the level of financial pressure the organization is under.

How This Can Affect You Over Time

In the short term, there is no immediate impact. If funding resumes, effects remain minimal.

In the mid-term, the outcome depends on what happens next. If USPS restores and makes up missed contributions, the impact remains limited. If financial pressures continue, it increases focus on costs, including retirement funding.

In the long term, continued financial strain can lead to greater attention on workforce costs, retirement obligations, and overall structure. Decisions made now will shape the future of the Postal Service and its workforce.

Why This Matters

This is not just a financial adjustment. It is part of a broader situation where USPS is making real operational and financial decisions to manage costs, reduce workforce levels, and restructure how it operates. These decisions directly connect to the larger conversation about the future of the Postal Service, including proposals that have already outlined post office closures, price increases, and operational changes.

WE have seen these types of challenges before. WE have faced threats to our jobs, our work, and our public service, and WE have stood together to protect it.

That same unity is needed now.

WE must stay informed.
WE must stay engaged in our Local.
WE must attend union meetings, rallies, and all union functions to stay informed and build strength together.
WE must speak to our co-workers, our families, and our communities about what is at stake.
WE must make our voices heard with those making these decisions.

We must also reach out to our communities and local businesses. Changes to the Postal Service affect them directly through higher costs, reduced service, and impacts on local economies.

This is about protecting our jobs, our benefits, and the public service that belongs to the American people.

WE are the Postal Service. Together, WE will stand up, show up, and protect it.

Message from Charlie Cash

The retroactive pay will be on paychecks this Friday. As with the last two retroactive payments made, I am already receiving calls that employees did not receive their retroactive payments or that it was not as much as it should have been. I am in the process of basically redoing the write up that we did for the last retroactive payments from the 2021-2024 national agreement. I hope to have that out either late today or early tomorrow.

Employees will not see the retroactive adjustments on the pay stub that they look at on their mobile phones or the small stub they may receive in the mail. They will need to download the full stub (which could be many pages long, the last stubs from the 2021-2024 retroactive payments were up to 20 pages long). There they will see each pay period adjustment. People also need to be reminded that the payments will have taxes withheld, TSP withheld, retirement withheld, etc.

Couple things to remember:

  • No one person’s retroactive pay will be identical to another. Retroactive pay is only made on paid work hours or paid leave that was used during the retroactive period.
  • If an employee was detailed to another pay scale (the most common is they were on a non-bargaining unit detail as a 204-b or such) they are not paid any retroactive payments for that.
  • Any employee who received payments from OWCP will not see retroactive payments from the Postal Service. Only hours paid by the postal service on the APWU pay schedule will be due retro active payments.

If people have doubts about their retroactive payments, they need to download and provide the full pay stub to their local leaders. If their local leaders have questions, they need to send the full pay stub to Lee Branca who will review them. If an issue is found, my department will address.