El Paso Postal Workers dealing with Exteme Heat

Postal workers must work through rain, shine and extreme heat. Last week, during the triple digit heat wave, three postal workers were hospitalized because of heat related issues.

One concerned wife says her husband’s safety shouldn’t be put at risk for simply doing his job, but not everyone agrees.

“It kills me every time I see this poor man walk through the door and …It’s like he’s melting,” said a wife of a local postal worker, who did not want to be identified.

She says after hearing three postal workers had to be hospitalized, she’s very concerned about her husband’s working conditions.

ABC-7 drove around an Eastside neighborhood and found a postal worker who wouldn’t talk to us on camera, but the concerned wife told us she knows what they go through in their non air conditioned vehicles.

“These vehicles have the exhaust and the engines that sits right by the drivers legs, they’re having to have their windows closed during the time they’re delivering the mail to ensure the safety of the mail that’s in the vehicle making this at least 30 plus degrees more in that vehicle sometime up to 140 after they’ve been walking for about an hour they come back to these vehicles and they’re like ovens,” said the wife.

The U.S Postal Spokesman for the El Paso region, Sam Bolen sent ABC-7 this response:

“For our mail carriers, working in extreme weather is part of the job. The salary and benefits are very good, but the job requires top physical conditioning to endure extreme heat, or sub zero winter weather experienced in many parts of the country. ”

“They could be walking, when I carried mail I walked. ” said Everett Bills. The retired federal employee says U.S Postal workers shouldn’t be complaining.

“There’s a lot of people out there working and they’re not complaining about passing out, the roofers that are putting roofing on the houses, they’re not complaining about it and they’re not making near as much as the postal service.”

“Quite honestly, I don’t think it’s enough. When you have to end up in a hospital because of heat exhaustion because again, their vehicles are tin cans on wheels I don’t think it’s worth it,” said the wife.

Bolen tells ABC-7 U.S. Postal Workers earn about $50 to 60 thousand dollars a year.

All three carriers who were hospitalized last week, have now returned to work.