Denver, CO – Rank-and-file members of Teamsters Local 455 rallied in the Commerce City UPS parking lot on September 4 to protest the continued lack of heat safety in their work hub. The Shop Floor Educators, an organization that has taken up the campaign for heat safety, provided snacks and refreshments, and led chants and speeches to the crowd of 15 Teamsters.

“We’ve been having a huge safety issue at UPS. It’s been one of the hottest summers on record—people are literally dying across the country,” said Keegan Estrella, a member of the Shop Floor Educators and member of the Safety Committee in the building. “We wanted to show UPS that we’re united in this struggle.”

“Stories about people getting injured, people suffering from heat injuries and having hard times through various means—not only is it happening to us now, it’s been happening for such a long time,” said Anthony Cole, another member of the Shop Floor Educators and a rank-and-file Teamster. “It’s been happening for literal decades, and we still need to continue fighting and continue organizing in order to change this.”

Heat safety continues to be an issue for workers on the shop floor. However, through organizing, they have made some gains. The Shop Floor Educators have won more fans in parts of the building like Small Sort, as well as an increased awareness of the issue. They have also provided an easy way to get involved.

As temperatures lower again in Colorado, the issue of heat safety will go on the back burner, but as Teamster Anthony Cole noted, “Heat safety has been a problem for a long time and will continue to be a problem in the future. The organizing done this summer paved the way for future fights for heat safety in the Denver UPS buildings.”

#DenverCO #CO #Labor #Teamsters #HeatSafety #Feature

Tampa, FL – On Thursday, August 15, Tampa Teamsters spoke to the media and handed out flyers exposing UPS’s ongoing failure to provide heat safety. The workers handed out thermometers to other workers and asked them to fill out heat safety surveys as a way of raising awareness of the intense heat that workers are facing every day during the Florida summer. 

UPS has made no efforts to follow the heat safety regulations stated in the recently agreed upon contract. Despite this, workerswere ready to make their voices heard to get better heat safety. One worker submitted the heat safety survey with the comment “Let’s make change now!”

“It’s infuriating to be in the middle of August and hear that UPS has had new fans for months and not taken the effort to install them. I have heard it has reached 88 degrees Fahrenheit in our building. That number is dangerous for the kind of work that we do,” stated Simon Rowe, a UPS pre-loader. Under the 2023-2028 UPS contract, UPS is required to install tens of thousands of fans across the country. Additionally new trucks are supposed to be outfitted with air conditioning after January 1, 2024. None have been purchased yet near the end of the first summer of the contract. 

Heat safety became a major issue of contract negotiations after UPS driver Esteban Chavez Jr. died due to heat exhaustion in 2022. Despite the promise of eventual air conditioning in UPS trucks, they still have made no effort to add AC in buildings. 

Heat safety is a key issues that has united workers across the board. From drivers to pre-loaders everyone agrees it’s too hot. Workers vow to continue their struggle to demand better from UPS. UPS made almost $10 billion last year, while workers continue to struggle in intense temperatures.

#TampaFL #UPS #HeatSafety #WorkersRights