It’s been one year since Eugene Gates, a USPS letter carrier in Lakewood, Dallas, died while delivering mail. His wife is fighting for better safety measures.
DALLAS — Triple-digit temperatures remind Carla Gates of one year ago.
On June 20, 2023, her husband, 66-year-old Eugene Gates, died at work. He was a United States Postal Service letter carrier for 36 years. Eugene was walking from door-to-door delivering mail in the Lakewood neighborhood of Dallas when he collapsed. The heat index exceeded 110 degrees that day.
“When my husband died, his body temperature was 104 and that was after they cooled him off, so you can imagine,” Carla Gates said.
Since his death, Carla Gates has gone to the White House and spoken with elected officials about making federal change for USPS employees across the country.
“I would like to see for them to start an earlier shift,” she said. “I would like to see for them to eliminate those box trucks with no air conditioning.”
Carla Gates also said her husband had a walking route, where he delivered mail to 400 homes per day by foot.
“They need to eliminate walking,” she said. “There are so many ways now where they can stop having these employees walk like Eugene was.”
Kimetra Lewis, President of the Lone Start Branch 132 National Association of Letter Carriers, said she believes little has been done to make it safer for letter carriers in the extreme heat.
Lewis showed WFAA grievances filed by union stewards at three post offices in Dallas, including the Lakewood location. Two of them were filed after Eugene’s death.
“Those are the only three stations that benefitted from this settlement,” said Lewis.
Otherwise, Lewis said the majority of letter carriers in the area are still starting at their regular times.
On a document, in a section for “remedy requested by the union”, it writes, “The Formal A parties mutually agree management will allow letter carriers to report to work no later than 7:30 a.m. starting April 1 – October 31 annually to alleviate safety concerns caused by heat.”
In December, OSHA also issued a violation to USPS following Eugene’s death, and made five safety recommendations. It included, “Use earlier start time to reduce exposure to higher temperatures.” While this has been implemented at stations like Lakewood that filed a grievance, Kimetra and Carla want it to be across the state, even across the nation.
“I’m not just fighting for my husband, I’m fighting for the entire US Postal Service workers. I’m fighting for them,” said Carla Gates. “It happened to one. It could happen to another.” She believes the death of Eugene Gates was preventable, wants to protect his colleagues.
WFAA reached out to USPS for a comment in regards to safety changes that have been made since Eugene’s death.