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Q&A
Council member Avilés inquires about exhaust and working conditions in facilities
2:17:46
·
80 sec
Council Member Alexa Avilés asks about the exhaust conditions within the facilities and requests more information on work speed-ups and injuries. Damian Contreras from Teamsters Local 804 responds, describing the issue of exhaust fumes from idling trucks inside warehouses.
- Contreras explains that larger facilities house hundreds of trucks, leading to significant exhaust buildup when vehicles are started.
- He mentions that while UPS facilities are more regulated, Amazon facilities have less oversight and are breaking rules.
- The idling problem affects everyone in the facility, both management and hourly workers.
Alexa Avilés
2:17:46
Thank you all for your work and testimony.
2:17:50
I was curious about one of the conditions, I think that was mentioned was, exhaust within the facilities.
2:17:58
And can you speak to the additional conditions you mentioned, like the work speed ups and the injuries?
2:18:06
Can you talk about the exhaust situation?
Damian Contreras
2:18:09
Sure.
2:18:11
These warehouses house hundreds of trucks, you know, the larger the facility, the larger amount of vehicles are housed within each building.
2:18:23
So when you have to take the vehicle out, you gotta turn it on.
2:18:28
It turns on the fume, you know, turns on the the motor and then motor creates all the fumes, and and that just stays within the buildings.
2:18:34
I mean, I've witnessed this many times in in the UPS facilities.
2:18:38
It's happening in the Amazon facilities for sure.
2:18:41
And with UPS, it's been around a little longer, so they are more regulated, but Amazon is breaking all the rules.
2:18:49
Like, it's it's it's it's happening more there than anywhere else because there the oversight is a lot less.
2:18:57
But it's it's the idling is terrible.
2:18:59
I mean, everyone is affected whether you're management or you're the hourly, everyone's affected by that.