Crockett Leads Oversight Democrats Calling on Chairman Comer to Hold Hearing on Unsafe Conditions for Postal Service Workers

WASHINGTON — Today, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Rep. Kweisi Mfume, and Rep. Greg Casar led their colleagues in a letter to Chairman James Comer calling for the Oversight Committee to hold a hearing to examine whether the U.S. Postal Service took effective action to reduce the incidence of heat-related injuries and protect its employees from extreme heat conditions.

“We are deeply troubled by reports of unsafe working conditions driven by extreme heat and inadequate workplace safety procedures at the U.S. Postal Service. We urge you to convene a full Committee hearing to examine the Postal Service’s efforts to reduce the incidence of heat-related injury and protect Postal Service employees from extreme heat conditions, which is even more critical as we face a global climate emergency and repeated extreme weather events,” wrote the Members.

Recent reporting from independent news outletsshows a pattern of the Postal Service allegedly pressuring workers to put their health at risk, ignoring heat safety programs, and even falsifying official heat safety training records.

On July 7, 2023, Crockett led Democrats on the Oversight Committee in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following reports of the death of Eugene Gates, a TX-30 letter carrier who died on the job while exposed to extreme heat conditions. On October 12, Crockett sent a follow-up letter to the agency after an autopsy confirmed that heat had played a role in Mr. Gates' death. On December 14, Crockett received a response from USPS which makes mention of plans to send more A/C-enabled postal delivery vehicles to Texas, though no timeline is set out.

Oversight Committee Democrats remain concerned with the U.S. Postal Service’s efforts to protect the health and safety of its employees as letter carriers continue to suffer from heat-related illnesses.

“As temperatures continue to rise, letter carriers across the country could be increasingly vulnerable to heat-related illness and injury. As of 2021, Postal Service employees were more likely to face heat-related injury than by motor-vehicle accidents or animal bites. We are facing a global climate emergency and have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of federal employees who are exposed to extreme weather conditions while balancing the Postal Service’s performance,” continued the Members.

The full letter is available here

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Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett represents portions of Dallas and Tarrant Counties, with the cities of Dallas, Grand Prairie, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, Duncanville, Glenn Heights, Hutchins, Wilmer, Arlington, Ovilla, and Seagoville.