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3h ago

USPS Workers Say They Were Ordered to Keep Working After Colleague Found Dead in Machine at Detroit-Area Plant

A recent grievance flagged the machine as unsafe, sharpening scrutiny of safety practices at the Allen Park plant.

Matthew Stiffler, a close friend and coworker of Nick Acker, who was found dead at the postal facility in Allen Park on Nov. 8, said that there were safety protocols, but they weren't followed.
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Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI 6th District), who told Local 4 she has monitored the facility “for years,” said she immediately suspected something was wrong when she learned of Nick Acker’s death. She told Local 4 that the machine involved had been the subject of a safety grievance fewer than 90 days earlier.
Matthew Stiffler, a mechanic and union representative, said employees were instructed to go to a different part of the building and keep working when Nick Acker's body was found stuck inside a machine.

Overview

  • Multiple employees say the plant manager directed staff to continue processing mail in another area while Nicholas John Acker’s body remained in the machine.
  • Union maintenance steward Matthew Stiffler says he helped remove Acker’s body and alleges safety protocols are not followed or enforced at the facility.
  • Stiffler and other workers describe pressure to prioritize production, citing aging 1970s equipment and resistance to locking out machines for safety.
  • OSHA’s investigation is underway with USPS saying it is fully cooperating, and local police continue to characterize the death as accidental.
  • Local 4 reports a formal grievance warned about the same machine less than 90 days earlier, as Reps. Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib seek answers and Sen. Gary Peters presses for information.