‘He was dripping with sweat’: Kroger worker dies in hot work conditions in Memphis

Erum Salam
Mon, August 28, 2023 

Photograph: Lisa Baertlein/Reuters

A Kroger distribution center employee has died on the job in Memphis amid hot working conditions, adding to a national debate in the US over the risk to workers during heatwaves.

The worker was identified as Tony Rufus, members from his union announced.

Related: Will Starbucks’ union-busting stifle a union rebirth in the US?

Leaders from Teamsters 667, the local labor union, said Rufus was trying to cool off in the produce section after becoming overheated on Friday night. Rufus worked in the salvage department, a part of the facility that did not have air conditioning. The Memphis police department found Rufus dead at 8.13pm.

“Guys said he was dripping with sweat, asking for water,” union leader Maurice Wiggins told Fox13.

Wiggins said Rufus died on a dock in front of his co-workers. His death comes after his union had been asking the company for more breaks, cooler temperatures and drinks other than just water.

In response to Rufus’s death, Kroger issued a statement: “The safety of our associates has always been our top priority. Kroger Supply Chain continues to take the necessary steps to ensure a safe working environment for our associates. We have contacted the associate’s family to offer our condolences and support during this difficult time.”

The investigation into Rufus’s death continues, according to the Memphis police department.

Unions across the country are demanding for better, cooler working conditions as the record-breaking heat felt this summer rages on.

Despite this, conservative political forces are pushing back against such demands.

Lobbyists from the agriculture and construction industries are working to prevent heat protection laws from going into effect at the state and federal levels. The Biden administration has proposed federal regulation requiring workers to be protected from the heat, but no such law has materialized so far.

In June, Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, signed a law that eliminated local rules requiring water breaks for workers. Shortly after the law was passed, a 35-year-old utility lineman in Marshall, Texas, died after experiencing heat illness symptoms.

That same month, unions representing UPS workers – many of whom drive delivery trucks without any air conditioning – threatened to strike if their demands for heat protections were not met.

Since 2011, there have been 436 work-related deaths caused by environmental heat exposure, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to UPS company records obtained by the Washington Post, at least 143 UPS employees were hospitalized for heat- or dehydration-related injuries between 2015 and 2022.

On 22 August, after threatening to organize what would have been the largest single-employer strike in US history, UPS workers were awarded a new contract that met their demands, including a provision that would require every new UPS truck to be equipped with air conditioning starting next year.

In a statement issued last Tuesday, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien said: “This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers. Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry.

“This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention.”