UPS drivers will be focusing on better workplace conditions and safety protocols as contract negotiations with their Teamsters union approach next year. As brutally hot summers have become more common, drivers have sought ways to deal with dangerous temperatures in jobs that require moving hundreds of pounds of cargo in trucks that are neither air-conditioned nor ventilated well. One driver was recently denied his request to have a fan in his truck, in a summer where one UPS driver died in early July due to excessive heat in California, and in that same month a video went viral that showed a driver collapsing from heat on someone's porch. Drivers will be seeking air-conditioned trucks, better heat-related protections, decreased overtime, and elimination of driver surveillance cameras. Workers are under pressure to deliver increasing numbers of packages while a software program gauges how long a delivery route should take, facing discipline if they take too long even in extreme temperatures.
See "As extreme weather conditions become increasingly common, UPS drivers seek air-conditioning and other worker safety protections", Michael Sainato, The Guardian, August 9, 2022