{"id":47827,"date":"2022-08-04T19:02:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T19:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/08\/04\/ups-drivers-demand-safety-protections-amid-ferocious-heat-waves\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T19:02:26","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T19:02:26","slug":"ups-drivers-demand-safety-protections-amid-ferocious-heat-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2022\/08\/04\/ups-drivers-demand-safety-protections-amid-ferocious-heat-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"UPS drivers demand safety protections amid ferocious heat waves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When UPS driver Dwight started working for the shipping giant in 1998, he complained to his manager about the heat at work, which was unbearable during long summer shifts. Dwight recalls his manager responding with an expletive: “Look at that damn rookie, complaining about the heat!”<\/p>\n

In the nearly quarter-century since then, conditions haven’t improved for Dwight, who said making deliveries on his New York City route in scorching summer temperatures has sometimes brought him close to the ‘heat exhaustion. (Like several drivers interviewed for this story, Dwight declined to give his last name for fear of retaliation by the company.) <\/p>\n

“There are times because of the heat I felt dizzy, I had to stop and get out of my truck,” he told CBS MoneyWatch.<\/p>\n

Heat complaints are widespread among SAI drivers, many of whom say they have had difficulty even installing a fan in their trucks, which do not have air conditioning. Now, the union representing UPS workers is taking up their cause. <\/p>\n

In a letter Monday to UPS’s vice president of labor relations, an official with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters demanded information about the company’s response to recent heat-related illnesses affecting UPS employees.<\/p>\n

Among the large amount of documents requested by the union are information about UPS’s procedures during a heat advisory; his plans to acclimatize drivers to the heat; the availability of personal protective equipment, first aid kits, water and ice machines; and hazard assessments for all workplaces where workers are at risk of excessive heat. <\/p>\n

The Teamsters are also holding rallies at UPS centers across the country this week as the union prepares to renegotiate its contract, which expires on July 31, 2023.<\/p>\n

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UPS workers protest at the facility in Brooklyn, New York to demand thermal protections on July 28, 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Teamsters Joint Council 16 <\/p>\n

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“UPS executives sit in their air-conditioned C-suite offices all day while UPS crews endure some of the most intense weather conditions imaginable, and this corporation needs to be aware of what is doing or not doing to protect these workers.” union president Sean O’Brien said in Monday’s missive.<\/p>\n

Cases of heatstroke at UPS are on the rise across the country
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Officials with Teamsters Local 804, which represents UPS workers in New York City, hope to push for heat-related job protections in the new labor contract. <\/p>\n

Chris Williamson, vice president of Long Island City-based Teamsters Local 804, said he knew of about 15 cases of heat-related illness among workers, but said the true number is likely higher because many are afraid to report diseases <\/p>\n

During last month’s heat wave, six drivers fell ill on the job, according to local news outlet The City. A seventh driver, Edwin Irizarry, felt sick and experienced a tingling sensation in his arm, a possible symptom of heat exhaustion, while driving his route through lower Manhattan. The driver’s manager told him not to call an ambulance, multiple union officials told CBS News and as detailed in their letter to the company. <\/p>\n

Instead of an ambulance, Irizarry’s manager took him to an emergency room, which referred Irizarry to a hospital. Once there, his supervisor tried to claim that Irizarry’s illness was not covered by worker’s compensation. (A company spokesman declined to comment on the cases, saying they did not have specific information.)<\/p>\n

Heat-related illnesses threaten UPS workers across the country. A driver in Scottsdale, Arizona, collapsed while delivering a package on a 110-degree day. (The driver has since recovered and is back at work, a UPS spokesman said.) In June, in Pasadena, Calif., UPS driver Esteban Chavez, 24, collapsed and die, and his family blamed his death on rising temperatures, he reported. Los Angeles television station KTLA.<\/p>\n

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