UPS, whose iconic brown-uniformed drivers are directly employed by the company, recently agreed to install air conditioners in their trucks after drivers across the country picketed work sites and threatened to strike. UPS has reported at least 143 heat-related injuries on the job in recent years, and a United States Postal Service driver recently died of heat exposure. Heat exposure affects delivery drivers across companies. Last August, after the drivers prepared a list of demands around pay, safety, and extreme temperatures, Amazon responded by offering workers two 16-ounce bottles of water a day. “You don’t stop until you’re done or you get reprimanded.” “On the days that you work, it’s basically mandatory overtime,” he added. Some people even have to miss their guaranteed 15-minute breaks, because if we break the pace, they contact us to try and find out why we’re behind.” You instantly start feeling woozy, and it’s gotten to the point where I’ve actually seen stars.” Amazon’s 275,000 drivers are hired through subcontractors, which makes it hard for them to fight for better conditions.Įven on scorching days, said Singh, “Amazon sets these ridiculous paces. “It feels like an oven when you step back there.
“Sometimes it reaches 135 degrees in the rear of the truck and there’s no cooling system,” said Singh, who has worked the job for two and half years and through the height of the pandemic. Raj Singh, a driver, knows that only too well. And since June 24, these workers have been on an indefinite strike.Īmazon’s requirement of drivers to make up to 400 stops per day, even when temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, can make operating one of those ubiquitous gray and blue vans a particularly hazardous occupation. In Southern California, 84 delivery drivers joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and negotiated the first union contract among any Amazon workers in the country. Extreme heat and unsafe working conditions under the merchant giant have now spurred drivers to unionize. Heat waves can delay flights and melt airplane tarmac, but Amazon won’t let them hinder Prime deliveries. This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
0 kommentar(er)
