Workers with the United States Postal Service claim they are being subjected to unclean working environments, making them more susceptible to contracting coronavirus.
One worker even said she had to mix her own sanitizer out of bleach to clean her truck, because officials would not supply it.
Two postal workers, a woman from Florida and a man from California, spoke to Business Insider on the condition of anonymity.
They say their buildings and vehicles haven’t been sanitized, and no one is enforcing social distancing.
‘Given the fact that we see customers every single day, I just feel like they could do a better job in making sure we have safe, sanitized working conditions,’ the Florida postal worker told Business Insider.
Postal workers pulls boxes from a stack on a hand truck on April 1 in Washington, D.C., which is currently under a stay-at-home order (file image)
Los Angeles postal worker makes her way across a street in downtown L.A., as coronavirus has forced Governor Gavin Newsom to lockdown California (file image)
She claims none of the mail trucks has gloves or sanitizers, and so she has to use bleach to mix up her own sanitizer at home to clean her truck.
‘That’s just not happening, largely in part due to a lack of availability’ of protective products, she said.
The California postal worker says the only protection from coronavirus in his post office is a large bottle of hand sanitizer on his supervisor’s desk.
He adds that other workers who stand in the back of his post office are ‘nearly shoulder to shoulder with everyone all the time.’
‘They aren’t taking this very seriously in my opinion at all,’ he said. ‘We don’t have masks. There isn’t social distancing.’ He added that in the back of the post office.’
To get by, he has to buy his own protective supplies online, like a $60 pack of reusable masks from Etsy and a $50 pack of rubber gloves.
Throughout the postal service, 259 of the organization’s 630,000 employees have tested positive for coronavirus, according to USPS spokesman Dave Partenheimer.
To protect the public, postal service has no longer requires customers to sign for letters or packages. Instead deliverers can drop packages off in front of a recipient’s door.
Still, some customers don’t keep their distance.
‘But we’ve been told not to go up to people, and the first thing 50% of the people do as soon as they hear me is walk out of their house — literally up to me — to grab the mail. Maybe because it’s something to do. That’s the scariest part of my day.’
‘The public, to be honest, are even more clueless,’ he said. ‘I hate to put it that way. Everyone I encounter is nice and friendly.
More than 86,000 people have signed a petition demanding protective measures for workers like ‘basic supplies like gloves, sanitizer spray, and face masks.’
Congressional Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Gerry Connolly said they are pushing for a bill to give emergency funding to the postal service. And last week’s stimulus bill gives the USPS the option to borrow $10 billion to help keep the virus from spreading to its workers.
Last week, the two lawmakers said the a sharp drop off in mail volume could force the postal service to shut down mail deliveries by June.
One idea is to create temporary delivery points, much like the yellow Amazon pick up lockers located in stores throughout the country.
In response to these anonymous complaints, the USPS has said it is doing the following:
‘Ensuring millions of masks, gloves and cleaning and sanitizing product are available and distributed to more than 30,000 locations every day.’
‘Introducing policies in USPS locations ‘to ensure appropriate social distancing, including through signage, floor tape, and ‘cough/sneeze’ barriers./
‘Encouraging employees to ‘politely ask’ customers to keep their distance so that they may drop off mail safely.’
‘Updating cleaning policies ‘in a manner consistent with CDC guidance relating to this pandemic.’
‘Giving information to employees to help them stay safe.’
Utility workers in New York and Florida are sleeping in RVs on company grounds to be safe from the coronavirus
Utility operators in the United States are staying on-site and in isolation to guarantee that Americans still have power as they try to cling to some form of normalcy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
At two New York Independent System Operator facilities in the state, approximately 37 workers have been living in RVs.
Tim Pasquini, one of the employees at the privately owned company, said that he volunteered to stay at one of the buildings because he got 10 weeks of paid leave too be with his newborn son two years ago.
Paid leave is paid for by the state.
Utility workers in New York and in Florida (Tallahassee pictured) are staying in RV on company grounds in order to work and keep their families safe
‘It’s something everyone in the state of New York pays into. And I got that benefit because of everyone, I see it more as giving back to everyone else in this time where there’s like a pandemic going on,’ Pasquini explained to ABC News.
Pasquini described the environment like camping, noting people were on calls with their families daily. He did add, however, that he could see the setting getting old.
‘Last week we had a couple nice, sunny days — we were all out in lawn chairs hanging out outside our trailers. Someone brought a guitar. We’ve been trying to stay busy, we have cornhole we’ve been playing in the parking lot. And we got a bunch of board games, things like that,’ he said.
Tallahassee, Florida, is rotating its approximately 120 workers and having groups come in for week at a time so employees can spend some time at home with their families while still trying to keep the power on for some 123,000 customers.
Tallahassee Chief Electric System Operator Alan Gale has converted his own office into his home
Rob McGarrah, general manager for Tallahassee, said that the city has housed employees for some days after various hurricanes but that they had to quickly adjust for the coronavirus.
He said that the city purchased dozens of RVs, coordinating meal deliveries from local restaurants and is converting offices into living spaces.
While McGarrah is still able to go home, Chief Electric System Operator Alan Gale has converted his own office into his home.
He shared that his wife is considered high risk so his staying in the office allows her to have more freedom.
‘The way we look at it is, we’re sleeping there. It’s better than having a hurricane and having to restore power. So we’re just operating and being sequestered, and I’ve got 9 out of my 15 people are previous military members so it’s better than being deployed it’s better than being on a submarine or on a ship,’ he said.
Gale, who has 22-year experience working on nuclear submarines in the Navy, was at least happy he gets to keep his office cleaned.
The city took to their on Twitter page to share the story about the utility workers.
‘#TallahasseeProud to see our efforts to ensure reliable electric service during the #COVID19 emergency highlighted nationwide,’ the city said in tweet.
