WARNER ROBINS -- Letter carrier Nerissa Buie worked a co-worker’s route Tuesday. In the rain. And for the second time this month, she helped an elderly person to her feet after a spill.

“It’s like I told someone earlier today, we’re more than just putting letters in your box,” Buie said, with a backdrop of about 30 Middle Georgia postal workers chanting behind her. “We’re your babysitters after school. We’re your neighborhood watch. And we’re the ones checking on your elderly.”

The postal workers gathered in the parking lot next to the district office of Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. -- as their colleagues did the same at congressional offices nationwide -- to rally for legislation supporters believe could save the U.S. Postal Service from further financial struggles.

“I’ve been working for 24 years for the Postal Service, and I never felt like my job was in jeopardy,” said Tamberlynn Hawkins, vice president of the Warner Robins chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers. “But we can’t continue to lose money every year and keep the same amount of employees and provide the same level of services.”

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., in April, House Resolution 1351 would recalculate the U.S. Postal Service payment amounts into its pension plan. Federal postal workers across the nation and the bill’s supporters believe the bill would allow the struggling mail service to operate with a profit instead of a loss.

Scott is not listed as one of the 216 Congressional sponsors. Cassie Smedile, a spokeswoman for Scott, did not comment on the resolution.

Hawkins said 2006 legislation mandates the Postal Service to pre-fund retirees’ health benefits, even before the employees on the payroll. It is not only is the lone federal agency required to prepay benefits, Hawkins said, but the payments are higher than necessary.

She said, if passed, the bill would refund the surplus to be used for operating costs of the mail service in a down economy and technology-driven era.

The 2011 pension plan payment is about $5.5 billion, and Hawkins said it will not be made because the Postal Service does not have the money.

Layoffs nationwide have been avoided, Hawkins said, including about 100 Warner Robins employees. However, several locations have closed over the past few years -- including a Warner Robins post office that closed earlier this year following a lease dispute -- and hours of operation have been reduced as the federal mail service attempts to right their finances.

“These are challenging times for the Postal Service and its employees as we work to make the necessary changes to our business model that will provide mail service for the nation for many decades to come, and in so doing, will also employ future generations of Americans,” wrote Stephen Seewoester, a USPS spokesman in a statement. He added the workers were “within their rights” to participate in the nationwide rallies on their own time.

No closures in Middle Georgia are immediately on the horizon, according the U.S. Postal Service website.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Hawkins said. “I always thought I’d retire from this job.”

After the postal workers trickled in from their mail routes, the group walked next door to Scott’s office to deliver signed petitions. Wayne Gilbert, president of the local chapter of letter carriers, said it was a small representation of people who support the Postal Service.

As the workers each handed sheets of signatures to the front desk receptionist, he suddenly slammed the sliding window and walked away. Visibly taken aback, the workers continued to lay the petitions on the sign-in counter and left for their rallying positions.

“When it comes time to vote, I’m going to slam the door, too,” said letter carrier of 23 years Kathi Boyd, adding she believed all congressmen should have been at their home offices to see the rallies.

Scott was scheduled to be in Atlanta at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday with members of Georgia’s House Republican delegation in support of passing a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to a news release. The rally in Warner Robins took place from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Smedile, Scott’s spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that office workers informed her the postal workers and office personnel were “cordial.”

“Our staff accepted the petitions and told those in the office that they would send them to Washington,” she wrote. “We will be glad to accept the petitions once they arrive in this office.”

Gilbert said he would like to see the nation rally around the about 574,000 postal workers because the demise of the federal Postal Service could affect about 8.5 million jobs related to postal service, including mass mailers.

Buie said postal workers are so much more than those people in the gray shorts and sky blue shirts who deliver buckets of mail. She said letter carriers care about the neighborhoods on their routes and pay attention to anything out of the ordinary while residents are away from home.

The carriers’ dedication to the job was clear Tuesday, as they stood beneath cloudy skies that had just poured water onto their grassy rally spot.

“We deliver mail in the rain, so we’ve got to fight for our jobs in the rain,” Hawkins said.

She quoted the unofficial federal Postal Service creed -- “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

To contact writer Christina M. Wright, call 256-9685.