UPS drivers push for air conditioning as temperatures soar: ‘People are dropping weekly’
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.
“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
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