Photo taken from Facebook Local post office union members protested Sunday in Barker Common over allegedly unsafe working conditions in Fredonia on Nov. 30.

Local post office union members protested Sunday over allegedly unsafe working conditions in Fredonia on Nov. 30.

The grassroots reform movement Build a Fighting, on behalf of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), organized the Barker Common protest.

According to a social media post by local NALC chapter president Dave Grosskopf, Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson attended “to discuss the workplace safety issues letter carriers faced on that day.”

The Fredonia Teachers Association offered support at the protest, Grosskopf added. Tiffany Ellsworth, president of the local American Postal Workers Union, also attended.

The Nov. 30 incidents happened during a winter storm that caused white-out conditions, leading to travel advisories and bans throughout the region. Allegedly, a carbon monoxide detector in the Fredonia Post Office was left to blare overnight and into the next work day before being addressed. Meanwhile, letter carriers and other postal employees were asked to continue working as normal.

Management only took action when “someone reported having a headache, a carrier walked out, and the fire department was alerted by a clerk,” according to a flyer advertising Sunday’s protest.

Once management addressed the issue by evacuating the building, carriers were instructed to travel to the Dunkirk Post Office in their personal vehicles, at the height of the snowstorm. Build a Fighting and NALC claim that no medical assistance was provided to carriers throughout the process.