NEWS: Casar, Oversight Democrats Call on Chairman Comer to Hold Hearing on Unsafe Conditions for Postal Service Workers

WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), and Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) 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 outlets shows 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, Committee Democrats sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following reports of the death of a Texas letter carrier and concerns about the Postal Service’s efforts to protect the safety of letter carriers who operate in extreme heat conditions.

Committee Democrats remain concerned with the 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 injurythan 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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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio.  A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.