As a UPS driver of two years standing, Matt Leichenger of Brooklyn, New York, makes 100 to 150 stops a day, delivering anyplace from 150 to greater than 300 packages.
It's a robust job at the perfect of instances, however in summer season, a typical driver is transferring tons of of kilos of cargo and organizing packages at the back of their brown UPS truck, the place temperatures soar as a result of an absence of air con and air flow.
Shifts can last as long as 14 hours, and Leichenger has skilled the grueling toll hovering temperatures tackle supply drivers. He just lately was denied a request for a fan to be put in in his truck – although a UPS spokesperson mentioned the corporate gives followers to employees on request.
“There’s a interval of your day the place at each cease you’re stepping right into a hellhole. The second you step again there, you simply really feel all of the sweat pouring out of your physique,” mentioned Leichenger.
The value some employees pay generally is a lethal one. In early July in California, UPS driver Esteban Chavez, 24, collapsed and died whereas working as temperatures rose to the excessive 90s. A video from a Ring surveillance digital camera additionally went viral in July exhibiting a UPS driver collapsing on a porch in extreme warmth.
With contract negotiations set for subsequent yr, Leichenger and different employees represented by the Teamsters union are pushing for air con in autos, higher warmth safety on the job, no extra extreme time beyond regulation, larger pay for part-time employees, extra full-time positions, and eliminating driver-facing surveillance cameras which are being put in in UPS vehicles.
“We don’t have contractual language that ensures us air con, however I feel that is one thing the federal authorities ought to actually be stepping as much as implement – not simply at UPS, however for employees throughout each trade the place excessive climate circumstances are actually taking a toll on employees,” Leichenger mentioned.
Final week, the Teamsters demanded pressing particulars from UPS on the businesses’ plans, coaching supplies, and assessments on defending employees from extreme warmth. UPS reaped file earnings final yr, at $12.89bn, and reported $6.8bn for the primary twoquarters of this yr.
“Individuals are simply dropping weekly right here. It’s not one thing the place that one driver in Arizona goes viral,” mentioned Moe Nouhaili, a UPS driver in Las Vegas. “It’s not simply the best way that UPS is treating employees, it’s additionally how they’re making us work, anticipating us to fulfill these unrealistic productiveness numbers even by the climate.”
He mentioned driver routes are decided by software program referred to as Orion, which calculates how lengthy a route ought to take. Drivers face self-discipline in the event that they exceed that point, regardless of extreme warmth circumstances, he mentioned.
Raul Medina, a UPS driver in Chicago, mentioned employees, together with drivers and warehouse employees, are going through elevated pressures over productiveness, and have been given bigger workloads, all whereas coping with rising temperatures fueled by the local weather disaster.
“The quantity of labor we’re doing now has elevated. The dimensions and weight of the packages have elevated, so we’re really placing far more of a bodily effort into it, together with the warmth, and due to international warming, it’s not going to get any cooler. We’re going to see extra sizzling days, and extra consecutive sizzling days,” mentioned Medina.
Because the local weather disaster worsens, employees are more and more prone to sickness or dying as a result of warmth publicity on the job, with excessive warmth index days of above 100F anticipated to double by mid-century. June 2022 tied with 2020 because the warmest June on file. By July, quite a few US cities skilled record-breaking temperatures and consecutive days of utmost warmth amid international summer season heatwaves.
In keeping with knowledge from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 62 employees died within the US as a result of excessive temperatures in 2020, although fatalities and accidents from warmth publicity are underreported.
Elliot Lewis, a driver in New York Metropolis, mentioned the again of UPS vehicles can attain 130F throughout sizzling summer season days, and this has resulted in lots of his co-workers getting sick.
He criticized UPS putting in driver-facing surveillance cameras whereas refusing to put in air con. Lewis mentioned the cameras add elevated scrutiny to employees already petrified of taking breaks to chill off, get water, or go to the toilet, as they could possibly be disciplined and danger job termination.
“You see numerous drivers, sadly, like at Amazon, peeing at the back of the truck, not ingesting sufficient water, and ending up with heatstroke as a result of they really feel that strain to be working sooner,” he added.
A spokesperson for UPS characterised the surveillance cameras as a security precaution and claimed the inward-facing cameras don't file audio or video however act as sensors to observe for dangerous habits.
“The information acquired from forward-facing cameras and inward-facing sensors is utilized by native UPS administration groups to establish dangerous behaviors and supply in-person teaching and coaching,” mentioned the spokesperson.
The spokesperson didn't touch upon air con, however cited warmth security coaching, air flow integration in autos, water and ice, and well being and security committees.
“UPS drivers are educated to work outdoor and to handle the results of sizzling climate. Preparation, relaxation, hydration and sustaining good well being practices are key to working outdoor. UPS invests greater than $260m yearly to implement packages centered on security, together with working in sizzling climate,” they mentioned.
“We by no means need our workers to proceed working to the purpose that they danger their well being or work in an unsafe method.”
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