Statement of APWU President Jonathan Smith on the Death of Postal Worker Nick Acker

The entire APWU family and postal workers of all crafts mourn the heartbreaking death of Nicholas Acker, a young postal worker killed while on duty November 8 at the Detroit Network Distribution Center.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his fiancée, his family, and all his coworkers in the Detroit District Area Local and postal workers around the country.

The only acceptable number of deaths at the United States Postal Service is zero. Every workplace death is preventable. It is postal management’s responsibility to provide safe working conditions, and it is clear that they have tragically failed in Detroit.

The APWU is troubled at reports that Acker was left undiscovered for hours before authorities were notified, and that management’s first public statement was to emphasize that the facility was up and running.

We are calling on postal management to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of Acker’s death and to cooperate fully with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Detroit District Area Local, and the national APWU to ensure such a tragedy never occurs again.

Industrial Relations Director Charlie Cash has deployed a qualified and experienced team of regional safety and health representatives to assist the local through the course of the investigation.

Furthermore, we urge postal management to make the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) fully available and accessible to all employees during this time of grief, and to ensure that it is utilized to its fullest extent to help workers cope with this tragedy.

This tragedy is a reminder that workplace safety must always come first. We value people over productivity. The APWU will continue the fight to make that a reality across the Postal Service.