Free write organization8/18/2023 ![]() ![]() Air-conditioned UPS trucks, for example, will help set a norm that all workers deserve heat protection. Unions cause a spillover effect, achieving gains that later become standard or legally mandated, like benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their families, as well as the eight-hour work day and days off on weekends. ![]() The negotiations at UPS could also help workers who are not union members. In this context, the union’s success in obtaining agreement from UPS on heat protections provides a striking example of how workers can often win gains much more readily through a union than through other means. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a rule around workplace heat, but it will likely take years to finalize. A UPS driver was a tragic example of this: The family of 24-year-old Esteban Chavez said he died of extreme heat, and drivers took to social media to share pictures of temperature readings of 120 or more in their trucks.Īlthough extreme heat is already hazardous and likely to get worse in coming years, there is no federal requirement that employers take specific measures to keep workers safe from extreme heat, beyond employers’ general duty to provide a safe workplace and few state rules on the subject. A Public Citizen report estimated that environmental heat is likely responsible for 170,000 work-related injuries every year and 600 to 2,000 fatalities. Protection from heat is an increasingly urgent worker safety issue. ![]()
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