Following months of negotiations with Teamsters, UPS announced in June that it would install air conditioning in new trucks starting next year. The company said it would send new trucks to the hottest parts of the country first, if possible. The company also said it would retrofit its existing package cars with cab fans, exhaust heat shields, and cargo area ventilation.
“While these improvements will make a difference in the months and years ahead, we had to fight like hell to secure them,” the Teamsters union said in its social media post Thursday. “Chris Begley should still be alive to experience them. All companies, including UPS, need to remember that their past failings to protect workers can have deadly serious consequences in the future.”
Chris Bagley should still be alive and it’s a damn shame the Teamsters failed to protect him from social murder. Only new trucks? Only next year? They drove trucks without fans, heat shields, and ventilation? What the fuck.
The Teamsters could have, at the very least, demand a total halt on driving trucks without fucking fans. “Oh but that’ll cause package delays!” Well I guess we just have to murder drivers for the sake of logistics.
If anyone tells me how great and historic the new contract is one more fucking time I’ll fucking lose it.
A responsibility they failed because they gave up the fight instead of striking.
Again, it’s UPS fault ultimately. It’s absurd to blame the union for not forcing UPS to do something over UPS not doing it in the first place.
The union exists to force the company to do anything in the first place! That’s their only job! If UPS murders drivers it’s because the union didn’t strike and force them to stop.
More drivers will die because they didn’t strike and force UPS to make its fleet safe.
You’re blaming the Union for UPS killing drivers.
Take a step back and think about that.
I’m blaming the union for not striking.
Why do they need to strike in the first place? Because of UPS. You’re falling into the trap.
What trap? You said it yourself, they need to strike.
And they didn’t.
They needed to strike in the first place because UPS was doing something wrong. You’re not putting your emphasis on the ultimate party that is in the wrong. You’re attacking the middleman which is the only reason the workers have any power at all. Either you’re falling for the trap like UPS and other big businesses want you to, or you’re anti-union and are arguing in bath faith.
I’m attacking class collaborators for getting a bad deal when they could have fought for a better one.
Don’t act like unions have to be above criticism. They need to be critiqued so they can improve.