Klenk survived, though the incident led him to retire early. His wife Theresa started a petition for UPS to air-condition their trucks, which more than 1 million people have signed.
UPS drivers’ struggles with the heat have become a key contest between the Teamsters union, which represents 340,000 UPS employees, and the company as they vote this week on whether to authorize one of the largest work stoppages in U.S. history if the parties don’t reach a contract by the end of July. One union poster promises to “make UPS feel the heat,” citing recorded back-of-truck temperatures of up to 140 degrees.
“The inside of the truck is as hot as a pizza oven, they don’t lighten the loads on hot days,” said Brooklyn, N.Y.-based UPS driver Chris Cappadona, who went to the hospital last year because of heat exhaustion.
The drivers’ union wants UPS to air-condition its fleet and provide employees more water and ice. UPS has already offered to increase fan access and to air-condition about 2 percent of vehicles, Teamsters spokesperson Kara Deniz told The Washington Post on Thursday morning. UPS spokesperson Glenn Zaccara declined to comment on ongoing negotiations.
UPS has already invested in fans and “Cool Solutions” safety training, which encourages drivers to drink water, among other tips. In the past, the company has said drivers’ frequent stops would make air conditioning ineffective because they open and close vehicles’ doors. Zaccara said drivers have “mixed” opinions on air conditioning and that UPS is “pursuing more effective means of cooling the cargo bay areas of our vehicles.”
At least 143 UPS employees have suffered severe heat or dehydration-related injuries since 2015, according to data the company reports to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. California-based UPS driver Esteban Chavez died while delivering packages last June. His family said heat stroke contributed to his death at 24; UPS is unaware of any cause of death, Zaccara said. Camera footage posted online last year showed another UPS driver collapsing on a customer’s doorstep in Arizona.
“There’s a lot of different ways that heat can affect our body — one is kidney failure, another is our heart. We even see that the brain can sometimes be affected,” said Autumn Brogan, who works as an emergency medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. In temperatures above 90 degrees and in closed spaces like the back of a truck, fans often don’t provide effective air circulation, she said.
As annual average temperatures in the United States rise, drivers’ problem will likely worsen. Parts of the United States have experienced record-high temperatures each of the past three summers — a trend climate scientists and weather forecasters say isn’t going away. UPS driver and Teamsters Local 804 alternate shop steward Elliot Lewis said climate change makes drivers’ demand for better heat protection even more essential.
Several of UPS’s competitors have taken steps to air-condition their fleets. The U.S. Postal Service will begin replacing its trucks with new climate-controlled models in 2024. DHL and FedEx’s company-owned trucks are also air-conditioned, although large parts of their fleets are owned by third parties.
The Teamsters and UPS continue to haggle over air conditioning as summer temperatures blaze, including in sessions Thursday and Friday, Deniz said. The union hopes to reach a contract and avert a potential strike before Aug. 1.
Until then, drivers will sweat.
