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A Hot Labor Summer, Literally
As heat records continue to be broken, the dangers are overwhelmingly borne by workers whose jobs directly expose them to heat, like farmworkers, construction workers, landscapers, and maintenance workers.
This summer has been a hot one for labor as strikes and other worker actions have swept the country. At the same time, workers have been toiling in one of the hottest summers ever recorded due to the ongoing climate emergency. This has put millions at greater risk of heat-related illness and death.
The 340,000 UPS workers, represented by the Teamsters union, made excessive heat in the workplace a top priority in their recent contract negotiations with the company. Between 2015 and 2022, at least 143 UPS employees had been hospitalized for heat injuries, according to company records obtained by The Washington Post.
To protect their health, workers demanded that UPS provide air conditioning in their signature delivery trucks. For the first time, the company agreed to equip them in all new delivery vehicles. But it’s outrageous that UPS workers had to bargain over the basic human right to a safe workplace while their CEO took home $19 million last year.
No federal laws currently impose heat safety standards for workplaces.
Federal and state governments, meanwhile, have largely taken a hands-off approach to protecting workers facing such dangerous conditions.
In the midst of an unprecedented heatwave, Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed a bill that will rescind mandatory rest and water breaks for construction workers. “It’s inhumane and cruel,” remarked Eva Marroquin, who cleans up construction sites in the Austin area.
Abbott’s egregious move grabbed national headlines, but it’s not just Texas workers who are vulnerable.
Regulations protecting outdoor workers from heat have only been implemented in a handful of states, including California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. Indoor workers, such as those employed at warehouses without air conditioning systems, also lack heat safety regulations in most states.
No federal laws currently impose heat safety standards for workplaces. In 2021, President Joe Biden ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to produce heat safety standards, but the agency still hasn’t issued them.
Anticipating that workers would face life-or-death summer heat, attorneys general from seven states petitioned OSHA to issue an emergency temporary order earlier this year that would require employers to provide water, rest breaks, and shade when temperatures top 80°F. The agency refused.
As heat records continue to be broken, the dangers are overwhelmingly borne by workers whose jobs directly expose them to heat, like farmworkers, construction workers, landscapers, and maintenance workers, among others. These jobs are predominantly low-income and more often held by people of color.
In San Antonio, a 24-year-old construction worker, Gabriel Infante, died this July from severe heat stroke. A 29-year-old farmworker in South Florida, Efraín López García, died that same month after experiencing symptoms consistent with heat illness. Extreme heat killed another young farmworker in Florida earlier this year after his employer failed to provide water breaks and shade.
Sadly, these and many more worker deaths across the U.S. could have been avoided.
President Biden has taken small steps to address this health threat. His Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su issued the first heat hazard alert reminding employers of their responsibility “not to assign work in high heat conditions without protections in place for workers.”
But for workers and their families, an “alert” is no replacement for a nationwide, legally enforceable heat standard that must be issued as quickly as possible. Absent an OSHA standard, Congress and states can still act to protect workers.
Workers’ lives are on the line. Until they are safe on the job, there will be many more “hot labor summers” in the forecast.
UPS Teamsters Overwhelmingly Approve 'Historic' New Contract, Averting Strike
"This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention," said Teamsters president Sean O'Brien.
United Parcel Service workers in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday overwhelmingly ratified what the union called "the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS," avoiding what experts said would have been a crippling strike.
Teamsters members voted by 86.3% to approve the new tentative contract, which raises wages for full- and part-time workers, creates more full-time jobs, and secures "important workplace protections, including air conditioning."
Both rank-and-file members and leaders of the 340,000-member union overwhelmingly approved the deal, with Teamsters leadership voting 161-1 in favor of the package.
"Our members just ratified the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS. This contract will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers," Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "Teamsters have set a new standard and raised the bar for pay, benefits, and working conditions in the package delivery industry."
"This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention," he added.
Under the terms of the agreement, current full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, with wage increases totaling $7.50 per hour over the length of the agreement. New part-time UPS employees will receive $21 per hour to start.
The contract includes new health and safety protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. The deal also ends forced overtime on scheduled days off, makes Martin Luther King Day a full holiday for the first time, and commits to the hiring of 7,500 new full-time UPS employees.
"This is the richest national contract I've seen in my more than 40 years of representing Teamsters at UPS," Teamsters general secretary-treasurer Fred Zuckerman said. "There are more gains in this contract than in any other UPS agreement and with no givebacks to the company. But the hard work doesn't end here. We will continue to fight like hell to enforce this contract and make sure UPS lives up to every word of it over the next five years."
The final contract vote means a massive strike—an action 97% of Teamsters voted in June to take absent an agreement—will be avoided.
UPS CEO Carol Tomé said in a statement that "together we reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees, and to UPS and our customers."
"This agreement continues to reward UPS' full- and part-time employees with industry-leading pay and benefits while retaining the flexibility we need to stay competitive, serve our customers, and keep our business strong," she added.
Progressives and labor advocates cheered the new contract.
"Congratulations to the more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters on this historic contract!" Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) wrote on the social platform formerly called Twitter. "You have demonstrated the power of solidarity and collective action in the fight for livable wages and better working conditions for workers across our country."
Democratic Socialists of America posted: "As the result of a historic contract campaign, UPS Teamsters got a taste of how it felt to flex their power as workers. A working class with high expectations is a good thing for the union, for our labor movement, and for the struggle for workplace democracy and socialism."
The AFL-CIO said that "this historic win creates new jobs, secures crucial protections, and raises wages for all workers."
"Let's be clear: Teamsters won this through relentless organizing and a credible strike threat that showed UPS the power of collective action!" the union added. "Workers united will never be defeated!"
The Teamsters Show There’s (Still) Power in a Union
Never forget this: Working people outnumber the billionaires and CEOs. If workers stand together, they will win.
Good and important news on the labor front (from your former labor secretary).
What would have been one of the biggest labor strikes in U.S. history has likely been averted, as Teamsters reps agreed to a tentative contract with UPS. The contract must now be voted on by the 340,000 unionized UPS workers.
The tentative deal reportedly includes $30 billion in wage increases for all UPS employees (including part-timers), elimination of the two-tier wage system, the establishment of MLK Day as a paid holiday for all workers, and a ban on driver-facing cameras in truck cabs as well as forced overtime on drivers’ scheduled days off.
Oh, and the installation of air conditioning and fans in delivery trucks.
As a result of the tentative agreement, air conditioning will be equipped in new delivery trucks, while existing trucks will receive additional fans and air induction vents to protect drivers.
Temperatures in the back of delivery trucks have reportedly reached 120 degrees, which has resulted in over 140 UPS employees suffering severe heat and dehydration-related injuries since 2015. One California driver died while delivering packages last June.
As a result of the tentative agreement, air conditioning will be equipped in new delivery trucks, while existing trucks will receive additional fans and air induction vents to protect drivers.
Folks, never underestimate the power and importance of labor unions.
UPS is one of the most profitable delivery companies in the world. In the past two years, its profits grew close to THREE TIMES what they were before the pandemic.
The company also spent $8.6 billion on stock buybacks and dividends in 2022, while paying its CEO $19 million — a figure 364 times higher than the earnings of the company’s median employee.
UPS workers rightfully wanted a bigger piece of the pie they helped create, and better safety protections while on the job.
As we’ve seen across so many industries, major corporations are making big bucks off the backs of their workers—many of whom were quick to be labeled “essential” as they risked their lives throughout the pandemic.
But working people everywhere have seen their hard work result in stagnant wages while CEOs, other top executives, and major investors do gangbusters.
Forty years of union-busting and trickle-down economics has made the rich richer, while eviscerating the American working class.
That’s why UPS workers fought back. And why over 320,000 other unionized workers across various industries have gone on strike so far this year. They are organizing to rebuild worker power and demand the pay and dignity they deserve.
Never forget this: Working people outnumber the billionaires and CEOs.
If workers stand together, they will win.
It’s an old-fashioned idea that’s as true today as ever. It’s called Solidarity.
Unfortunately, after decades of union-busting and so-called “right-to-work” states, only 6% of private-sector workers are unionized today. When I was a kid in the 1950s, a third of all private-sector workers were unionized.
Which goes a long way to explaining why in the three decades after World War II, America created the largest middle class the world had ever seen. And why, starting in the 1980s, that middle class has hollowed out—creating anger and anxiety that’s been channeled by cynical, power-hungry politicians into racism, xenophobia, and rage.
Does this summer of labor discontent signal that the pendulum is about to swing back?