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UPS workers call for change after driver faints and crashes due to heat – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
Dozens of UPS workers rallied outside a UPS center in McKinney Wednesday morning, demanding better treatment from the company amid a dangerous heat wave in Texas.
This comes after a transporter driver passed out and crashed into a tree last week, reportedly due to the heat.
The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 767union that has helped navigate tensions that have come to a boil recently during multiple incidents this summer.
The most recent incident involved a UPS driver crashing his truck on Friday when he passed out behind the wheel due to the heat, according to the union.
The union claims he called the company after experiencing heat-related symptoms and was told to bring the truck back to the facility instead of receiving medical attention. He was taken to a hospital, treated and released.
The union said this was the third heat-related incident in recent months at the UPS McKinney facility.
Friday's crash came as a shock to another McKinney family, who said heat stress claimed the life of one of their family members, who also worked for UPS. In August 2023, Neysa Lambeth's husband, Chris Begleywas driving for UPS outside the McKinney facility when he passed out from the heat. Lambeth said he was out of town, and instead of calling 911 or taking Begley to the hospital, another UPS employee drove Begley to his vacant home. He died four days later.
last week, NBC affiliate in Central Texas reported that a UPS worker died, allegedly of heat illness according to his family.
The union has been in talks with the company to resolve workers' concerns and concerns.
“We've been meeting with UPS over the last 24 hours and having some discussions to try to get on the same page with what's going on,” said Dave Reeves, president of Teamsters Local 767. “But at the end of day, the Teamsters Organization, we are here to support our members and once again to ensure that the safety of our members is respected at the highest level.”
'WE ARE ONE'
Heat has been a serious issue for UPS workers and delivery drivers from various companies for many years. Workers have had to adapt to dangerous heat in places like Texas, but when incidents occur, demands for better treatment come to the fore.
“When it's 105 degrees outside, the body's internal temperature rises. And then in the back of those trucks, they can get up to 130 or 140 degrees. I swear you could make brownies in there. There's no airflow and the man can get to you pretty quickly,” said Jeff Bowers, a UPS delivery driver for nearly 25 years.
He said many people in the general public are surprised to learn that most UPS trucks seen on the road do not have air conditioning.
It's a cost-saving measure for a job that makes many stops and covers countless miles.
“We're human. It's extremely hot and we're working long hours. And when employees call and tell the company they're experiencing any kind of heat-related injury, that's taken seriously. That's what we're looking for, Reeves said.
The union has fought for improvements over the years. Recently, fans were installed on every truck — it started with one and then upgraded to two as the coupling was pulled, Bowers said.
“So they definitely had the resources to do it. They just fought it and fought it and fought it and we had to file complaints and do all these things through the union to get just one fan on the truck,” he said.
Last year, the company agreed to a contract with the union to eventually install air conditioning on all new delivery trucks purchased in 2024 and beyond.
But this is the problem the workers have now. There is no requirement to replace existing trucks with these new AC units until the old trucks are phased out.
“As far as I know, there isn't a truck in this building that has AC in it. With the last contract they passed, all new trucks were going to get AC. But I've worked here for ten years. I have the truck My For seven years I don't expect it to be replaced in the next ten years before I retire with a full pension, “So I may never see it and that's why we're out here.”
Reeves said he does not know the exact location of where the AC vehicles have been distributed, and the company has not released information on how many have been distributed in Texas.
He said the deal does not include retrofitting of old trucks with AC.
“Currently in our jurisdiction here in North Texas, we have over 2,000 drivers in our area and none of the trucks to my knowledge have AC in them currently as we sit today,” Reeves said.
STATEMENT FROM UPS
NBC 5 reached out to UPS for a statement on the allegations and demands made by the union.
“The health and safety of our team members is important to us and we are committed to providing a safe working environment for our employees. Last year, UPS and the Teamsters agreed to additional measures as part of our overall efforts to help keep our employees safe while working in the heat. We are on schedule or ahead of schedule on all of our contractual commitments. UPS has hundreds of AC vehicles operating on the road today, and we will continue to purchase and deploy new AC vehicles as quickly as possible,” UPS said in a statement.
The company added, “The agreement with the Teamsters also included modifications to our existing package cars to improve airflow, temperature and comfort for our drivers. We have equipped the vast majority of our vehicles with heat shields and improved air intakes to better cool and ventilate the cargo area.”
A UPS spokesperson also sent a summary of additional efforts it is taking to keep employees safe, including:
Investing more than $409 million annually in safety training in the U.S. and continuing to increase heat safety training
Equipping workers with specialized cooling equipment and adding equipment to vehicles and facilities that help protect people from the heat.
Train and communicate regularly about Recharge, the health and safety program that was developed in partnership with experts in athletic hydration and heat safety.
