Have you ever been so hot you’ve gotten chills? I have—just once. That’s what happens when you’re in extreme heat for so long that your body can’t cool itself down anymore.
If you haven’t experienced it before, it’s unnerving. After being under the hot sun all day sweating, you might expect to get a Charlie horse. You might expect to be light-headed from the lack of potassium in your system. But shivering? It seems unnatural. That’s what heat exhaustion does to you. And if you’re not careful, it can cause you to faint, shut down your organs, or kill you.
Most people don’t think twice about stuff like this. But for UPS drivers like me who deliver in the desert, it’s a concern that’s all-consuming.
I’ve worked at UPS for 10 years and I am proud to be represented by Teamsters Local 396. In a typical day, I deliver about 180 packages near the Mojave Desert around Palmdale, Calif. During the summer, when more people take vacation, my daily volume increases to about 220 packages. To make that many stops, I have to be in temperatures over 120 degrees for up to 12 hours at a time. In the back of our trucks—which still do not yet have air conditioning or ventilation systems—it can get up to 150 degrees.
It’s hard to fully wrap your head around how hot that feels. Heat like that makes you nauseous. It gives you migraines. It can cause heart palpitations. Being exposed to such extreme temperatures takes a serious toll on your body.
As a single mom, it’s easy for my mind to wander to worst case scenarios. What would happen if I fainted from the heat in the back of my truck? Would anyone stop to check on me, or would I be left to die? How long would I survive? It sounds morbid. But working in these conditions, I have no choice.
UPS management always replies with condescending suggestions when our Teamsters representatives share our worries with them. “Just take your breaks under a tree,” they say. For someone in a cushy boardroom, that might seem reasonable. But for the people working in my facility driving rural routes up to 200 miles a day in the barren desert, it’s laughable.
Just two years ago, when our union ratified a new national contract with UPS, it looked like management finally came to its senses. As part of our deal, the company agreed to start putting A/C and ventilation systems in our trucks. For me and my fellow Teamsters, it felt like our prayers were answered. Finally, we wouldn’t have to spend more summers worrying about whether we would make it home safe to our families.
Perhaps we were too optimistic about how quickly UPS would meet its obligation. The truth is, UPS has been rolling out these new trucks as slowly as possible. They told us our facility would be the first to see these improvements, yet we have seen hardly any at all.
UPS is intentionally refusing to live up to the promises they made in our contract. The way they treat us, it’s like they forget we’re human. While they continue to disrespect us, hundreds of thousands of UPS Teamsters are ready to fight for what we’re owed.
Viviana Gonzalez is a UPS Driver.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
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