The heat wave in NYC made it difficult for Simone Martin to drive a delivery truck. Martin keeps a container of ice in her truck and wraps it around her neck in the summer. She didn't do anything to keep the pain at bay.
She told Earther that that was the worst day of her life. I had to apply the ice to my neck and head.
She is worried about her health as she delivers boxes. I don't feel well on some days. Sometimes I couldn't move. She explained that she had to stop and stand under the tree. I feel exhausted when I return to the truck. I got headaches from the heat.
Multiple US cities have set temperature records this summer. Delivery drivers have to work 10-hour shifts in trucks that don't have fans or airconditioning. Many drivers have reported feeling unwell and some have been hospitalized. There is something new this year. Jeff Schenfeld, a union steward in Dallas, said it was a lot more people.
The drivers are angry that the company hasn't taken swift action to improve summer working conditions They want the company to provide water for workers and put fans in every truck. The company didn't reply to a request for comment on the conditions.
Despite raking in billions of dollars in profit off of drivers' labor, the union leadership criticizes the company for not providing ways to cool down trucks. Sean M. O'Brien said that the corporation needs to own up for what it is or isn't doing to protect the workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the company 16 times for heat-related injuries. Updating current OSHA standards or adding new ones could take years according to the Washington Post. The union doesn't want to wait that long.
Last week, union leaders and workers from the United Parcel Service protested outside of the company's customer center in Brooklyn. They were angry over the death of a man who died after passing out in his truck on a hot day. Chavez died in June and his family believes he died of heatstroke.
In July, footage from a Ring doorbell in Arizona showed a driver collapsing after delivering a package, angering workers. The drivers are trained to work in the heat. The statement said that the employee used his training to be aware of his situation and contact his manager for assistance.
Workers have used social media to organize. The temperature in the car that the worker in the recent thread was in was about 122 degrees. There were photos of temperature readings taken inside trucks with temperatures well above 115 degrees.
Martin said that the worst part of her job is locating and collecting packages in the back area of her car. It felt like hell in the back of the truck.
Before the death in California and the video of the collapsing delivery driver in Arizona, workers used to have to get their own water, but now it is provided on the job. The public is interested in the situation because it is out there.
Martin hopes that she and her colleagues don't have to wait a long time to get fans or ice machines. She wants the public to put pressure on the company to invest in safety. Delivery drivers and union reps don't want much.
She said that they are hard workers and do their jobs. If the company looks at it this way, they'll get more out of us.
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