UPS drivers push for air conditioning as temperatures soar: 'People are dropping weekly' | US unions | The Guardian
By: the Guardian
Our regular UPS and FedEx drivers are always on a dead run without a minute to spare. The other day it was in the 90s here with high humidity and I saw our UPS driver leaving his truck to deliver a package to us. I opened the door and he just stood there while the cool air from the house rushed out. I asked him to come in for a minute to cool down and he said he didn't have the time. I watched him head back to his truck and he was unsteady on his feet. I got a Gatorade and ran out to the truck to give it to him. His hands were shaking as he tried to drink it. He was way past his tolerance point and was still trying to finish his route.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Drivers report grueling toll of making hundreds of stops a day in sweltering conditions, as UPS makes record profits
Drivers represented by the Teamsters are pushing for air conditioning in vehicles and better protections on the job. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA Drivers represented by the Teamsters are pushing for air conditioning in vehicles and better protections on the job. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
As a UPS driver of two years standing, Matt Leichenger of Brooklyn, New York, makes 100 to 150 stops a day, delivering anywhere from 150 to more than 300 packages.
It is a tough job at the best of times, but in summer, a typical driver is moving hundreds of pounds of cargo and organizing packages in the back of their brown UPS truck, where temperatures soar due to a lack of air conditioning and ventilation.
Shifts can last up to 14 hours, and Leichenger has experienced the grueling toll soaring temperatures take on delivery drivers. He recently was denied a request for a fan to be installed in his truck - though a UPS spokesperson said the company provides fans to workers on request.
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"There's a period of your day where at every stop you're stepping into a hellhole. The second you step back there, you just feel all the sweat pouring out of your body," said Leichenger.
The price some workers pay can be a deadly one. In early July in California, UPS driver Esteban Chavez, 24, collapsed and died while working as temperatures rose to the high 90s. A video from a Ring surveillance camera also went viral in July showing a UPS driver collapsing on a porch in excessive heat.
With contract negotiations set for next year, Leichenger and other workers represented by the Teamsters union are pushing for air conditioning in vehicles, better heat protection on the job, no more excessive overtime, higher pay for part-time workers, more full-time positions, and eliminating driver-facing surveillance cameras that are being installed in UPS trucks.
"We don't have contractual language that guarantees us air conditioning, but I think this is something the federal government should really be stepping up to implement - not just at UPS, but for workers across every industry where extreme weather conditions are really taking a toll on workers," Leichenger said.
Last week, the Teamsters demanded urgent details from UPS on the companies' plans, training materials, and assessments on protecting workers from excessive heat. UPS reaped record profits last year, at $12.89bn, and reported $6.8bn for the first two quarters of this year.
"People are just dropping weekly here. It's not something where that one driver in Arizona is going viral," said Moe Nouhaili, a UPS driver in Las Vegas. "It's not just the way that UPS is treating workers, it's also how they're making us work, expecting us to meet these unrealistic productivity numbers even through the weather."
He said driver routes are determined by software called Orion, which calculates how long a route should take. Drivers face discipline if they exceed that time, despite excessive heat conditions, he said.
Raul Medina, a UPS driver in Chicago, said workers, including drivers and warehouse staff, are facing increased pressures over productivity, and have been given larger workloads, all while dealing with increasing temperatures fueled by the climate crisis.
"The amount of work we're doing now has increased. The size and weight of the packages have increased, so we're actually putting much more of a physical effort into it, along with the heat, and because of global warming, it's not going to get any cooler. We're going to see more hot days, and more consecutive hot days," said Medina.
As the climate crisis worsens, workers are increasingly at risk of illness or death due to heat exposure on the job, with high heat index days of above 100F expected to double by mid-century. June 2022 tied with 2020 as the warmest June on record. Through July, numerous US cities experienced record-breaking temperatures and consecutive days of extreme heat amid global summer heatwaves.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 62 workers died in the US due to extreme temperatures in 2020, though fatalities and injuries from heat exposure are underreported.
Elliot Lewis, a driver in New York City, said the back of UPS trucks can reach 130F during hot summer days, and this has resulted in many of his co-workers getting sick.
He criticized UPS for installing driver-facing surveillance cameras while refusing to install air conditioning. Lewis said the cameras add increased scrutiny to workers already fearful of taking breaks to cool off, get water, or go to the bathroom, as they could be disciplined and risk job termination.
"You see a lot of drivers, unfortunately, like at Amazon, peeing in the back of the truck, not drinking enough water, and ending up with heatstroke because they feel that pressure to be working faster," he added.
A spokesperson for UPS characterized the surveillance cameras as a safety precaution and claimed the inward-facing cameras do not record audio or video but act as sensors to monitor for risky behavior.
"The data received from forward-facing cameras and inward-facing sensors is used by local UPS management teams to identify risky behaviors and provide in-person coaching and training," said the spokesperson.
The spokesperson did not comment on air conditioning but cited heat safety training, ventilation integration in vehicles, water and ice, and health and safety committees.
"UPS drivers are trained to work outdoors and to manage the effects of hot weather. Preparation, rest, hydration, and maintaining good health practices are key to working outdoors. UPS invests more than $260m annually to implement programs focused on safety, including working in hot weather," they said.
"We never want our employees to continue working to the point that they risk their health or work in an unsafe manner."
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They wouldn't even authorize a fan in the truck...WTH.
That's BullShip, When the company is THAT profitable, there is NO EXCUSE not to give the drivers, who are the heart of the business, as they provide an extremely necessary task in a post pandemic world.
I had my own Contracting business for decades, and started out primarily ROOFING! So, i might, after a few decades be able to imagine their plight, and I feel their pain, but driving a truck and making many stops, to me, does not compare to being up on a roof, doing extreme physical labor, in the summer heat, As shingles become chocolate chip cookies, still in the oven, add a torch to apply Modified Bitumen or TPO and you've got extremely extreme heat circumstances, as i just finished a small Modified Bitumen Torch Down Friday myself. It was FCKN HOT! My advice is to Stay hydrated, and i would use a hose OFTEN, to wet down shingles so as not to damage them and or burn myself, and then to wet head and WHITE T-SHirts down to cool body temps. I was only a small corporation and beings on a roof, i had not the option for such luxury's as fans and AC, and then in the bitter cold of winter, the Torch came in handy. So i'll just end with i feel their pain and believe Corporate Bonuses can be foregone to conclude with air conditioned trucks. They HAVE the MONEY. ! FCK CORPORATE ! Always trying to cut costs to increase their bonuses !
This kind of abuse must STOP! It won't until the people being abused realize that the SUPER RICH are not looking out for them. Republicans in elected office are focused on rich donors, not hurting constituents, nor, school kids massacred.
Why, the NRA is one of the largest donors to elected officials.
Not having AC is insane!
Corporations are so driven by shareholder value that they have lost basic human decency.
I read last week a delivery driver was fired for getting some water in record heat. I can't remember if it was UPS or Amazon...
I know some UPS drivers were reprimanded for stopping for water, but I don't know if any were fired.
You are correct. I went back and looked it up. I should have done it before posting...
Being reprimanded for stopping for water is bizarre.
I have personal knowledge of Amazon's betrayal of human dignity, abuse, insensitivity, and contempt of workers. They spit them out like they are particle of leftovers stuck to their grinders.
Cold heartless, profit margin driven wranglers that drive their team until they collapse, then, quickly saddle up a free team, leaving the exhausted to die where they laid, collapsed forgotten.
How in the HELL did workers get so f*&king brainwashed that they believe that REPUBLICANS are working for their best interests, and democrats who have always fought for them, are now the "enemy", Socialists, Left Leaning Liberals, Welfare Frauds, Dead Beats, etc.
What the F&%K has happened to "commonsense"?
it's become Uncommon
Would the company prefer to pay a few extra dollars in hourly wages, or pay out the nose when one of these delivery drivers loses consciousness behind the wheel and kills somebody, or multiple somebodies?
They may have done a cost analysis and figured it was cheaper to pay off some lawsuits than spend the money to install the A/C.
Impractical....the doors are open too much.
The A/C will still cool the driver even with doors wide open. Drive with your windows open and then see if the A/C makes a difference. It most certainly does.
No, you can drive with the A/C on and windows open and it will cool you down some.
What the HELL does that mean?
People are dying, losing their jobs, bullied by corporate thugs to work until they collapse, so the super- rich might get richer.
Has Fox TV Fake News brainwashed, the unwashed, overworked, underlings, who have no time for anything but rushing to work, to home, to bed, to bars, to back to work again, like blind mice.
We are as human as the UBER RICH. Stop Killing us for PROFITS!
In 2021 UPS had record profits of over $12 billion and the first two quarters of 2022 a profit of $6.8 billion. Yes, that's BILLION.
FCK BIG CORPORATIONS! record profits due to hard workers in the field, not air conditioned offices
There are states like Washington that have never really needed air conditioning in the past that are in trouble now with these record breaking temperatures everywhere.