Reality Check Ep 044

The main ideas from this information are: - The heat inside buildings can be significantly higher than outside, causing safety concerns. - There is a need for better circulation and fans in buildings to alleviate the heat. - Workers should not be blamed for seeking relief in cool zones or taking breaks to prevent heat-related issues. - It is important for workers to know their rights and seek help from safety committees and stewards if necessary. - Concerns about safety should be logged and addressed by the company. - Anti-fatigue mats should be provided for clerks and other positions that involve standing for long periods. - Workers should advocate for their safety and not hesitate to file grievances if necessary. Teamster Power 767 Reality Check with Jeff Schenfeld and Garfield Hooper. So Garfield, today, again we're talking about the heat, but we're going to talk about heat inside the buildings, and you know, it's, you know how bad it gets when you walk from outside to inside a building, it's like 15 degrees warmer at least when you first walk in. Isn't that crazy? Well, and honestly, let's, this probably just needs to be, we need to just talk about safety in general. Like, this is, I mean, the heat is obviously on, is obviously on everybody's mind this time of year, but, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of safety aspects people may not know about. You know, things you can correct, things you can request, you know, going through your safety committee and putting things on the concerns logs for stuff. So I think it was, maybe we start off with the fans, right, you know, for the circulation, and you know, we were talking about it, the new contract, what was it, 18,000 fans? I think so, 18,000. So and what was the number of buildings that we saw? A quick search gave me like 5,500 something buildings. Yeah. So that's, that doesn't leave room for many, you know, for, for many fans and it's, it's absolutely nuts. You know, that circulation is needed and, you know, because there is, I mean, some of the newer buildings are going to have better circulation, obviously, you know, even McKinney is going to be better than Dallas, right? So, but, but it's still bad and it's, it's, you know, it's not properly done at the buildings and you know, these, these, these, these, the hub workers, they, they suffer, they suffer. So but, so there was an issue the, this past week, supervisor came up to myself and, you know, I was in early, came up to myself and another steward and was saying, Oh, having an issue with, with, you know, with a worker, okay, we go over, he's an, he's a, does e-regs, right? And he's the only one doing e-regs. We're like, okay, we see sweating supervisors says, well, you know, he's just, he's just leaving the area and doing whatever he wants and oh, you said you're going to stay, but hold on a second. So we could barely find supervisors, it's, it's, it's, they're always hiding somewhere. But if you're having a heat related issue, should you just stick around in the heat and just, okay, let me just wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, no, he's an employee who's been there. He went to the cool zone. He went to one of the offices and they had a problem with it. So myself and the other steward, you know, we've been doing this a long time. So are all the fans here? Well, yeah, there's fans here. Hold up a second. Look down the box line. Look, there's no fan down here on the box line. He's by himself. Well, you know, he can, he can blame his fellow, you know, workers because they didn't come in. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's the whole way. Yeah. You want to blame the other workers. Hey, you know that there are a lot of, you know, they have option days and you know, it's the heat gets to them and you're not going to blame the other workers. You're not going to do that. Okay. And we said to him, we said to the supervisor, first of all, you don't have a fan here. He's the only one here. You're trying to have him do everything. You're trying to tell him to go quick. He's going, you know, he's, he's working to the best of his ability. He's working safe and you want him to work past that. So it's hot out. It's everything's going on and you're trying to do this. And we were, we were just, I mean, we were fuming and you know, we said, listen, you need to do the fans. You want to, you want to stop what you're doing right now. You want to talk about him trying to stay cool, maybe trying to stay alive. And it's unbelievable. He's got a towel over his head, a cooling towel, trying to do everything he can. And, you know, I saw he was getting frustrated. So we calmed him down first because we didn't, you know, we didn't want him to get all, you know, crazy. So we were speaking to the supervisor the full time, like, no, this, this is, this is wrong. He, there's no way you're going to come to us and say, well, he's not doing his job. He's doing his job and we don't talk about other employees. He's doing his job. He goes to his cool zone. And if he can, and he knows to, to say something to you, but it's been so hot and no one's been around. So supervisor, you know, situation, clear up the situation, 15 minutes later, the supervisor comes up to me. Well, yeah, you were right. We're getting a fan put in there. I said, I know we were right. We both, the three of us, we saw it, that there was no fan there, but it all started right away. They wanted to go after him. You see right away. Oh, but we don't like firing people. We don't like disciplining. Right. Yeah. So. And that's, I mean, that's what I tell my drivers, you know, that's what we tell the, the people on the preload. Like if you need the cool zone, you go get it. If there's not a supervisor there, that's, that's not, that's not your fault. You go and seek the cool zone when you need it. And you have to make that, you can't be, you, you can't let them intimidate you about stuff like that, because this is, this is your life. This is your health. You know, if, if you're feeling it and those, and those buildings, those buildings are hot. Like especially if you're like, especially if you're in the trailers, if you're doing unload or if you're loading in those trailers at night, those things are hot boxes all day long. I remember, I remember unloading trailers, you know, it wouldn't matter if it's three o'clock in the morning. If it's August, it's a hundred and some odd degrees in the back of those trailers. Yeah. You know, a lot of the members, you know, maybe the newer ones, they're scared to say something, right. They're worried about losing their job. And you know, we, we go around, you know, we, we speak to people, you know, we're like, Hey, listen, you got to know your rights. You got to know, you know, that, Hey, listen, you want to go to a cool zone, you go to a cool zone. If you can get a supervisor, that's great. If not, you go to your cool zone. And you know, after that, you want to get a, you know, find a steward, you know, just to help you out. I mean, just man, what they do to the part-timers, the advantage they try to take of these part-timers and I was there. I was one of the part-timers too. Like it's when you're new, you're just, you're there, you're, you're, you're there to work. You know, if you don't know any better, whether, you know, I was from a small center or, you know, we had a steward on preload, but you know, it was, it was one, it was one person couldn't get around everybody. And it's hard sometimes when you don't have the information, when you don't have the knowledge, especially when you're, you know, only been for the company, with the company a few months or maybe even a few years, but it's definitely hard and it's easy for those supervisors to intimidate you. If you don't know, you're right. Yeah, no, I mean, it is. And every, every member should know that if there's an issue with like fans and stuff, you go with someone on the safety committee and you let them put it in a concerns log. I've said this before, you know, thinking, you know, the long game, if this goes to panel, the first thing the committee will ask is, was this on the, is this on the concerns log? That's the first thing they're going to ask. If it's not, then, well, you know, I mean, oh, well, was anything said, you know, this, you make sure it gets on the concerns log. I can't stress that enough. You got to go through that process. Yeah, you have to, you have to, have to, have to. And, you know, everyone should know who's on the safety committees for their sort. It's important, you know, we, we, we just want these things to be taken care of. We don't want the company to just, oh, we can do what we want. And you know, it's a simple thing like also like the clerks, they're allowed to have anti-fatigue mats for standing around. And that's another thing. If they're not providing that, then, you know, you get with someone on the safety committee and, and, and, and have them put it on the concerns log. I mean, you're standing there in the heat, you know, I mean, it's like, God, there was so many things that this, I mean, the company, like if they don't have to do it, they won't. If no one says anything, they won't. It should be things that are there to make sure that, you know, heat-related injuries don't happen or, you know, injuries don't happen, but no, it's like after the fact sometimes and then they forget again. And that would be any situation where you're, or any position where you're kind of standing around, would that be like small sort, include, include with like mats and stuff like that too? Because they're mostly just. I wouldn't, it says clerical, but listen, I'd try anything. I put it on there for, I mean, you're standing there, why not? I mean, you know. You're doing internationals like in the evenings. Yeah. You know, as an air sort, I know we have like a small air sort that stands around and just scans small air stuff and stuff that, you know, they're standing in one place most of the evenings when they're working nights. Overgoods. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what else there might be. Does any, any position where you're working in the building and you spend most of your time standing in front of a computer or standing in one place? I would request, you know, especially if it's a, if it's an issue for you, I would request, you know, that, that be put on the concerns log for you and see if the company will, will provide it. And if they don't, you know, you could then possibly file a grievance and see if you could get one. Absolutely. You might as well try it. I don't see anything specific. It just kind of says clerical, but so what? Yeah. Let's try it. Maybe they do it. Maybe you get them. Yeah. Maybe. Okay. Yeah. Let's do it. You know, see what we can do. We got to try everything possible to, to help out, you know, all the employees. Getting the BAs to push it. What's that like? Well, yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's something else, you know, but, but, you know, we just got to, we got to get the members to, you know, come forward and then get them stronger, you know, and, and really just, just, just everyone's got to be, everyone has to know their rights and that's where, you know, everything comes in. You tell one person, if they go through it, now they can help someone else, right? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's like anything, you've gone through the situation, so now you can help, you know, someone else. Exactly. So, I mean. It's important. It's important to note that, you know, you play, you have to play the role in making sure that you're safe as a member, you know, with using the concerns laws, making sure your area is safe. Like, if you're a driver and you're getting in your truck and you're doing your, your pre-trip, make sure you have a dolly, you know, make sure that everything is on your truck that works correctly when you do your pre-trip, do your post-trip at night so you can write things down on the DVIR so the same problem you don't have in the evening is in the morning. And if things aren't getting fixed once you're doing all that, that's when we go to the concerns law, that's when we go to the grievance process, but you also have to follow the steps getting up to it. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it takes, it takes a team, we're called Teamsters for a reason. We have to be all a part of this. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's agreed and that's, you know, there's so many things. I mean, you know, there are so many things, safety things that we, we need to hold the company accountable for. So we're all safe, you know, even the, you know, the overweight stickers and just, just everything. But, you know, we really want to discuss, you know, in terms of the heat and, you know, and, you know, the hub employees, they, I mean, just like anyone else, they, they take a beating because of the heat and, you know, it's, it's management coming on, you know, going at them and it just, you know, everyone needs to know their rights and, and if you're having issues, get with a steward and, and, you know, you're allowed to get to your, your cool zones. And contractually, they have to provide you with ice and water now. Yes. So if you don't have ice and water, if you need water, tell a supervisor, if a supervisor is not there and you need water, go get water. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Your, your, your health is, is most, you know, is the most important. That's it. I mean, it's everything. So, but I'm glad we talked about this and we'll, you know, we'll always keep touching on these things because, you know, safety, you know, when you're dealing with safety, you know, that means everyone's going to get home that day if, you know, if, if, if safety is at the top of the list. So I want to thank everyone for listening, from myself and Garfield, everyone have a good 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, 767 realitycheckatgmail.com. That's 767realitycheckatgmail.com. And remember strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.