Wife of UPS driver petitions for air conditioning in trucks

Woman announces 375,000 signatures at Midtown store.

The wife of a UPS driver seeking air conditioning across the company’s fleet of pack- age delivery trucks submit- ted an online petition to UPS management Monday.

Theresa Klenk, a nurse, says her husband James Klenk, a 59-year-old UPS driver in New Jersey, suffered heat stroke and dehydration after working through several hot days in August 2016. She says he was hospitalized and went into renal failure.

“I was scared he was going to die,” Klenk said, adding that drivers are sometimes lifting heavy boxes in the back of a hot truck while working as much as 10 to 12 hours a day.

She says she decided to start the petition on change.org after UPS last summer “did nothing to change the conditions of the package trucks.”

After Klenk started the online petition, UPS reached out to her and scheduled a meeting with UPS vice president of pub- lic relations Steve Gaut.

Klenk traveled to Atlanta to announce Monday in front of a UPS Store in Midtown that she had gathered more than 375,000 online signatures, and to hand over printouts from her petition to UPS at its headquarters in Sandy Springs. “I have a special, special package for them,” Klenk said. “I want UPS to be the leader here.”

Similar online petitions focus on the U.S. Postal Ser- vice and FedEx.

The Teamsters union, which represents UPS driv- ers, recently negotiated a new labor deal with UPS that is up for a vote by workers. When asked whether air conditioning in trucks is a priority, the Teamsters declined comment.

UPS said in a written state- ment that it “appreciates the hard work our drivers perform every day. Working outdoors throughout the year is the nature of the job.” The company said it trains driv- ers on how to work in heat and cold, and its program to prevent heat-related ill- ness was developed with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Package delivery drivers shut off the engine and open the doors or cargo bay an aver- age of more than 130 times a day, according to UPS.

“The start / stop nature of the delivery work renders air conditioning ineffective,” UPS said.

JOHN SPINK/JSPINK@AJC.COM Theresa Klenk announces collecting more than 375,000 online signatures Monday in front of the UPS Store in Midtown. She said her husband, 59, a UPS driver in New Jersey, suffered heat stroke in August 2016.