Reality Check Ep 040

Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schoenfeld and Garfield Hooper. Alright Garfield, we're going to get right into it today. Let's do it. Alright, so I got a call from you on Friday night that something happened again involving the heat, involving management. Brother, I am hot and it ain't got nothing to do with the weather. Yup, yup, I hear you. So let's hear it. So we had a driver during the day on Friday that was going out and everybody was heavy. We had probably a dozen drivers in our building Friday that were dispatched with more work than they could finish in a day. So they were playing this game where hey, everybody's got to stick around, everybody's got to help out, all this kind of stuff. Well, we had one driver go to the ER earlier in the day because his truck was blown out, he spent too much time in the back digging for shit, and he went to the ER. He got IVs and everything. But one guy that was, I'll give the guy credit, he's a workhorse. He goes out there and he gets it done. But he was feeling bad and he was getting close to the end of his day and he decided to go to Care Now because he was getting a little dizzy, getting a little lightheaded. Just like the beginnings of heat exhaustion. Absolutely, yup. And he goes into Care Now, and of course, Care Now, they can't do anything. That's why we tell people that if you're starting to feel this stuff, you need to go to the ER or call an ambulance or something like that. Absolutely. But he was close, there was one on his route, so he drove his truck over there and went in. Got cool, they checked him out, they did an EKG, checked his heart, stuff like that. But Care Now's not equipped to give IVs, they're not really equipped to do the blood work and all that kind of stuff. They checked his blood sugar, I think you said. But he came in, the sups came and got him and brought him back to the building. When he got back to the building, our fucking center manager said, okay, well, Care Now released you back to full duty, so you've got to go back out and continue working. He spent an hour at Care Now getting checked out because he was dizzy and he felt unsafe. And when he came out of Care Now, and a supervisor drove, and they didn't trust him enough to drive the truck back to the building. Wow. But when he got back to the building, he was instructed by our center manager that he needed to get a truck and drive back out to Allen and take 30 stops off of another driver. So they wanted to protect the packages, basically. They didn't give a crap about him, right? No, no, they didn't give a shit about him. No, no, they wanted to make sure those packages got delivered. He went and he did. He went out there, he drove out there, and I talked to the driver, he went to help. Because I waited, of course, when I heard about this, I waited in the building for him to get back and check on him and everything. And then I waited, I was there for a little while talking to a few other people. And I saw the driver, he went to help. The driver told me, he said, nah, he looked like shit when he came out there. But he said that, you know, they forced me to drive all the way out here, so I might as well take something. So that driver's life was worth 14 stops. He drove 30 minutes from the building in a packaged car after being in a medical facility for heat injuries, for a heat-related illness. He drove 30 minutes to another city, took 14 drivers off the driver, and then drove 30 minutes back to the building. So it was 14 stops, and he could have killed himself or someone else along the way. Absolutely. And they put him back on the truck. And this is the same manager as last year. It's the same manager that was responsible for not sending one of our drivers, who all but passed out at a business, to the hospital. Yeah. Who died three days later, four days later. And this is happening. This is a little bit of crap. Yeah, it's not even summer yet. No, no. Summer doesn't start for another three weeks. And every outlet we have, I know you're going to call. We're going to make sure that the company pays for that. That's a load of crap, OK? They don't care. They just don't care. And all the stuff in the contract, I mean, it means nothing to them. I mean, no one's enforcing it or whatnot. But for them to do this, this is on them. This is the company just thinking they could do whatever they want. This is 100% on them. And I've got to tell you, man, that's so – that's such a load of crap, OK? These managers, supervisors, they need to pay. They need to pay. I'm not talking about money paying. That's something else. I'm talking they need to pay daily with their jobs, OK? I agree. I mean, yeah. I mean, this isn't something like – if, God forbid, something had happened, if he had passed out behind that wheel, and if he – driving on the highway. Driving on the highway on a Friday evening, back out to make deliveries. He passed out on that highway, killed somebody, killed himself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that manager's decision right there could have feasibly cost somebody their lives. Well, I mean, there was a driver out of Denton who passed out and, you know, everything – you know, it was just so bad. You know, it was just everything was so bad. And this center manager over my building was the center manager in that building at that time. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, and they're still frustrated about that, the members over at Denton, for that happening because that shouldn't have happened. Again, avoidable, right? Avoidable. Avoidable, OK? Avoidable injuries, avoidable accidents, avoidable deaths, you know? And no, no, there's no way she's going to get away with this, OK? What was her name again? Hannah. Hannah Garza. OK, OK. I've got a few other choice names for her, but don't call her that one. Yeah, for now we're going to call by a name Hannah Garza. Everyone needs to know that this manager did that, OK? And, you know, this is – This will be – she's already – she was in charge when our driver died last year. She was in charge when a Denton driver – he'll probably never drive again. No. He'll never be the same. No, that's – yeah, exactly. Yeah, and, you know, this is – we're not even in the summer, and she's already potentially put one of my drivers, not to mention the countless other people in the public that he drove past Friday night. Yeah, yeah. At risk because of 14 stops. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And, you know, from this – and I'm going to say it. You know, you're feeling like that and you – enough where you're going to the doctor, you know, or wherever it is, you're done for the day. That's it. You're done. Everybody out there, you're done, OK? You've had the heat injury. Yeah. If a manager looks at you after you come back from a goddamn – a goddamn medical facility for a heat-related illness or for fucking anything and says, I'm instructing you to go back out and continue delivering, be like – just look at him and go, good luck. Write me a letter, please. I'm going home. I'm going to go home and see my family. I'm going to go home and take care of myself so I can come back here on Monday and continue my job so that I don't pass out over the weekend and end up in the hospital possibly fucking dead or kill somebody on the way out to deliver 14 more fucking stops because this company wasn't prepared for a fucking short work week that happens the same goddamn time every year. Exactly. And, you know, everyone out there should know, again, Garfield said a driver in his Senate died last year, and because of the same type of situation, management didn't do the right thing, and, you know, his frustrations are justified. Absolutely. Okay? You know, they're sending people out there to drive, but understand something. You have a heat-related injury, that's it. You're done for the day. You're done. That's it. You're not going to lose your job because, oh, no, you didn't – no, no, no, no, no. You're done. And, you know, you go out with that, you should even be paid for your full day as well. Okay? And then, you know, you follow up with the doctor, do what you have to do, but you do not step on that truck, you know, until you're, you know, you're 100 percent, you've seen another doctor, and you've relaxed after this happens to you. So it's just unconscionable, just unbelievable that we're here again. Okay? We're actually here again, and, you know, we're going to keep doing these episodes. I don't care how many episodes of The Heat we're going to do. If these things are happening, we're going to keep talking about it. Okay? Because we're trying to prevent deaths here. Okay? This isn't anything else. This is to prevent deaths. Okay? And permanent injury or – it's just unbelievable. So, you know, I mean, the things that were put in place in the contract and, you know, they have to – management's got to be aware of, you know, they've got to know when someone's – when an employee's going through something. Right? I mean, they have to see that. They have to be trained for that. They have to, you know, look for the heat-related symptoms. And these were obvious. They didn't even care. They went by. They just bypassed and said, we need you to work. We don't care what happens to you. You know? So it's – and, you know, if people didn't know before this, I mean, they care about the business. They don't care. You're a number. You're an employee ID. Okay? I mean, you know, as a union, we care about the people, the families, and everything. And this is disgusting. This is horrible. And we're not going to stop. We're going to make sure she pays for this one. Okay? You know? And – I like that, too. Yeah. It's unbelievable. And we just wanted to bring this to people's attention again. This is the beginning, you know, of the hot weather. And everyone across the country needs to understand this. You need to take care of yourself and the things you have to do. You know, stay hydrated and everything like that. But once something happens, that's it. You know? You're not going back on the road because there's a reason why you're like that. And it could be any number of things. Did they get blood tests back? Did they do well? No, they didn't get all that. It was just, oh, no, you're fine. You know? You look good. Everything is – no, no, no, no, no. That's – they don't have your best interests. No. So, you know. But, you know, we just wanted to bring this up. Yeah. I wanted to bring this up. You know, obviously, I'm hot about it. But, you know, I don't want to just focus on what happened in my center on Friday. Like, there are things in the contract that were put in this contract. Whether they went far enough is a debate for a different time. But there are things that if your center, going into summer, haven't already implemented some of these things, you need to bring it up. Whether it needs to be with your management. Whether it needs to be with your local. Whether it needs to be with your safety team. Whoever. If you've got to file a grievance. Now, some of these things are spelled out. Like, you're supposed to provide each building with an adequate amount of potable drinking water, sufficient for the number of employees working on each shift. Yeah. Yeah. So, whether that be water bottles, water fountains. Whether that be the new water jugs. That one's in there one time. Yeah. Provide number two. Provide it on a one-time basis, each regular package car driver with a one-gallon durable insulated container who has not received an insulated water jug from the company. So, like, last year they gave out the brown ones that have the UPS symbol on them. Those are not one gallon. I think they're a half gallon. Yeah. So, they've got new blue ones that they've been giving out. Those are one gallon. So, if you haven't received one of those, you need to go up to your management team or your safety committee or whoever and say, hey, where's my fucking water jug? Because, you know, that's a one gallon. You can fill it up with ice, fill it up with water. You know, it'll stay cool all day. You know, even if you've got your own cooler and stuff that you keep water and drinks and stuff too, it's always good to have an extra thing of water around, you know, just in case it gets too hot out there. You never want to be caught out there without enough to drink. Yeah. I mean, it's just – and, you know, the company's supposed to monitor employees. But, you know, you can see that they don't care. So, what we have to do, the safety committees across the country, they need to, you know, go the extra mile. And I'm not saying they don't, but we have to to protect ourselves, everyone in the safety committees. And, you know, it's life or death. I mean, it's life or death. I mean, my God. I mean, we're monitoring. We're looking at people. I mean, every day we're looking at people, seeing if they're okay. You know, you can tell sometimes, you know, in the morning people are, you know, you ask them. I think more questions are being asked amongst the union members, you know, because you're looking out to see if there are other people, you know. And you have to be willing to make that call too. If you get sent to help somebody or somebody gets sent to help you, and you can look at them and see that they are not doing well. They're like, look. Like, send them off. Like, you know, taking work off of somebody. I was sent to help somebody several years ago. God, it had to have been like 2015, 2016. They sent me to help somebody. Some kid was – some rookie was on a route out next to mine, and he was drowning out there. He'd been running it, or he didn't know the area or whatever. He had like 60 stops left, and I was finished. It was like 6.30. But I got out there, and the dude was drenched from, like, head to toe. And, like, you could see that he was struggling. And I told him. I said, you need to stop and take a break. And he sat there. You know, he had some cold water. I said, I got him some over there, checked him out. And I was like, how do you feel, man? What's going on? What's going on? And he's like, man, I just – it's just like I'm just really struggling out here. I spent a lot of time in the back of the truck. So I called up the suit, and I said, hey, you sent me to take some work off of this guy. I think he probably needs to seek some medical attention. If nothing else, like, he needs to be done for the day. So, like, I was like, give me all your pickups. So we pulled all of his pickups off this truck, put it on there. I handed him the keys to my truck. I said, you drive my truck back to the building, and I'm going to finish you up. And I was out there a couple more hours. But, you know, that guy – I mean, that guy ended up – when he got back to the building, he was struggling so bad they ended up taking him to the hospital. He ended up having to get, like, a couple of bags of IV fluid and everything. He was dehydrated. He was – like, there's no telling what another 60 stops would have done to that guy. But, like, you as a teamster, as a teamster brother or sister, have to be willing to make that call. Like, don't be – I mean, don't think about, oh, well, I want to get home to my kids, or I want to get home to my wife or everything. You've got to look at that. That's your brother or sister right there in front of you. And you've got to say, hey, you know what? You shouldn't be doing this. Like, you're clearly struggling. Just like that driver did Friday night. He said, you don't have to take anything from me. I've got higher seniority than you. I don't have to give you shit. But if you want it, I'll give it to you. He's like – so the guy said he was going to take it, so he took it. But they wanted him to take 30 stops. He ended up only taking 14. A couple of streets out there. But we have to take responsibility for that too. We can't let our brothers and sisters be at risk. So be aware. It's not just up to the company. It should be. The company should take it seriously. But we know they're not going to, so we have to pick up that slack. We have to take care of each other. Yes. So, again, the lives depend on it, and it's basically the buddy system. And, again, not everyone likes each other. This goes beyond that. This goes way beyond that. This is no matter who it is, we help each other. That's it. That's it. There's no other way. Okay? So this was very important because, once again, it's coming up, and we want to make people aware of, hey, if it's happening in Garfield Center, possibly happening in another center, and we want to put the information out there. Know your rights. Know what you can do. And know that, hey, your life is more important than a box. Absolutely. Okay? So, but for myself and Garfield, everyone have a good day. Safe day. We all deal with national language, but on this podcast, when it comes to supplemental language, we deal mostly with the southern region. And, as always, it's best to get advice from your local stewards or business agents. If you would like to reach out to us with any questions, we have an email address, 767realitycheckatgmail.com. 767realitycheckatgmail.com. And remember, strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.