No Masks, No Hand Sanitizer, Filthy Facilities: A Sick UPS Worker Speaks Out - Intelligencer
Warehouse workers and delivery drivers are carrying the American economy on their backs. Not only has the outbreak of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, increased their workload, it creates dangerous working conditions that corporations have done little to mitigate. Temporary raises, the addition of hand sanitizer or the occasional canister of Lysol wipes, the hiring of new staff; the measures introduced by companies like Amazon and Wegman’s and others are piecemeal solutions. Workers, meanwhile, continue to expose themselves to COVID-19 in order to keep their jobs. Many still lack basic paid leave.
Some also worry that they may be helping spread COVID-19 to others. John, who loads UPS trucks at a facility in Philadelphia and is a member of the Teamsters, is symptomatic for the virus. He told Intelligencer by phone that he believes conditions at his workplace may threaten public health. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the virus does not live long on cardboard surfaces; it seems to disintegrate on packages after about 24 hours. But dirty facilities and inadequate sick leave create hazards at work, and in turn, may prevent communities from containing the pandemic.
Warehouse workers and delivery drivers are carrying the American economy on their backs. Not only has the outbreak of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, increased their workload, it creates dangerous working conditions that corporations have done little to mitigate. Temporary raises, the addition of hand sanitizer or the occasional canister of Lysol wipes, the hiring of new staff; the measures introduced by companies like Amazon and Wegman’s and others are piecemeal solutions. Workers, meanwhile, continue to expose themselves to COVID-19 in order to keep their jobs. Many still lack basic paid leave.
Some also worry that they may be helping spread COVID-19 to others. John, who loads UPS trucks at a facility in Philadelphia and is a member of the Teamsters, is symptomatic for the virus. He told Intelligencer by phone that he believes conditions at his workplace may threaten public health. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that the virus does not live long on cardboard surfaces; it seems to disintegrate on packages after about 24 hours. But dirty facilities and inadequate sick leave create hazards at work, and in turn, may prevent communities from containing the pandemic.
