Chicago postal workers are threatening to stop delivering mail after a second worker was shot while on the job this year.
“Any letter carrier who does not feel safe in any one of these communities then they are not to deliver mail and customers have to pick up their mail,” said Mack Julion, Branch 11 union president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. “We are not going to have another situation where the letter carrier is shot down.”
The victim in the most recent shooting, a 24-year-old woman, was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries. She is now in stable condition.
“I would say a lot of our members are terrified,” Julion said. “They are terrified of this random violence. It can happen to them, too.”
Chicago police do not believe she was the intended target and was reportedly caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting.
“We are relieved she’s in stable condition,” Julion said. “We are pulling for her. We are praying for her.”
The incident was similar to one in March when a postal worker was struck in the head by gunfire during a gang shootout. That worker was also saddened to hear news of another shooting.
“It was devastating,” the worker, who did not wish to be identified by name, said. “My heart goes out to her and her family. It brought back a lot of bad memories … I hope people realize we are only human, and we are doing the best we can and pray for us.”
Isis Edmond, a postal carrier who works a nearby area, said being a postal worker in Chicago is a dangerous job.
“You pray. Pray that God protects you,” Edmond said. “But you try to be aware of your surroundings, just look out, but sometimes, in her case, you can’t see everything.”
“I’ve been delivering mail and gunshots rung out. I’ve had to run to my truck and stay in my truck until everything deescalated,” she continued. “Contact 911, of course. Contact my supervisor to tell them what’s going on. Then leave the area. That’s the process.”
The news of potential disruptions to Chicago’s mail service comes as debate rages in Washington, D.C., over the practice of mail-in voting. President Trump has publicly worried that mail-in voting could lead to inaccurate results, while Democrats have insisted the practice is a necessary step during a pandemic.
Over 1.1 million people in Illinois have requested mail-in ballots already this year. Chicago is the state’s most populous city.
