UPS agrees to add air conditioning to trucks
Jared Gans
Wed, June 14, 2023
The delivery company UPS and a union representing workers have reached a tentative agreement to add air conditioning to trucks that could help avoid a possible national strike that workers have threatened.
UPS said in a release Tuesday that it reached an agreement with the Teamsters union to implement “heat safety measures” for workers. It said the company agreed to equip all newly purchased small package delivery vehicles in the United States with air conditioning starting on Jan. 1.
The new vehicles will be provided to the hottest parts of the country where possible.
“We care deeply about our people, and their safety remains our top priority. Heat safety is no exception,” the release states.
UPS also plans to have package cars retrofitted with a cab fan within 30 days of a contract being ratified. It has already worked to install cab fans in the cars, and a second fan will be added to those without air conditioning by June 1, 2024.
The release states that UPS will also include exhaust heat shields in the production of new package cars and will retrofit existing cars with them within 18 months of the contract being ratified. The shields minimize heat conduction from the powertrain into the vehicle’s floor, and tests have shown they can reduce floor temperature by 17 degrees.
UPS will add an air intake vent to new cars and retrofit them to existing cars within 18 months of ratification to bring in fresh air to the cargo area.
Teamsters said in a statement that the agreement came after a week of “intense lobbying” from its National Negotiating Committee on UPS to recognize the “enormous dangers of heat-related issues.”
“Air conditioning is coming to UPS, and Teamster members in these vehicles will get the relief and protection they’ve been fighting for,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said.
The union represents more than 340,000 employees for UPS.
NBC News reported that more than 100 workers have been hospitalized for heat-related illness in recent years, including some who approached kidney failure as a result. The outlet reported that the tentative agreement could reduce the chances of the workers going on strike as they try to negotiate for a new five-year contract before a deadline of July 31.
Teamsters said its subcommittees have reached tentative agreements on more than a dozen issues and are planning new proposals to UPS. It said bargaining would resume Wednesday
UPS Drivers Finally Get AC in New Trucks as Strike Authorization Vote Looms
Kevin Hurler
Wed, June 14, 2023
Image: Jonathan Weiss (Shutterstock)
Don’t forget to thank your mailman, come rain, snow, heat, or hail. After years of putting up with sweltering temperatures inside their vehicles, UPS has reached a deal with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union that represents nearly 340,000 drivers, to add air conditioning to UPS trucks both new and old.
According to a press release from UPS, air conditioning will be included in newly purchased trucks beginning on January 1, 2024. While this is a ways off, and excludes legacy vehicles, UPS added that trucks with AC will be dispatched to the parts of the country most susceptible to high heat first. Additionally, UPS will retrofit older trucks with a cab fan within thirty days of the union ratifying a new contract with the courier service—the union’s current contract expires on August 1. Trucks without air conditioning will get a second fan installed by June 1, 2024.
“The Teamsters and UPS agreed to tentative language to equip the delivery and logistics company’s fleet of vehicles with air conditioning systems, new heat shields, and additional fans,” Teamsters said in a tweet yesterday.
UPS also agreed to include exhaust heat shields in truck cargo bays both in new trucks and, within 18 months of the union ratifying the contract, in old trucks. UPS says that these heat shields can dramatically reduce the heat conducted onto the cargo floor by as much as 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Both new and old trucks will also receive an air intake vent on the passenger side of the vehicle leading into the cargo area to circulate air. Old trucks will be retrofitted with the vent within 18 months after the contract is ratified.
“We have reached an agreement with the Teamsters on new heat safety measures that build on important actions UPS rolled out to employees in the spring, which included new cooling gear and enhanced training,” UPS said in its release. “We care deeply about our people, and their safety remains our top priority. Heat safety is no exception.”
UPS drivers have been struggling with balmy trucks for years, and that struggle is only exacerbated as heat waves appear to become more commonplace. Just last month, a heat wave began to cook the Pacific Northwest—a region that is not typically equipped to handle lofty temperatures—with temperatures on both the low and high end of the region’s forecast on certain days hitting 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average. Some UPS drivers have gotten crafty, like Simone Martin, who would dunk fabric into a container of ice water to wear on the back of her neck in order to stay cool during a major heat wave last year.
“That was the worst day for me,” Martin told Gizmodo last summer, citing July 21, 2022 as a particularly hot day in the city. “I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to keep stopping and reapplying the ice thing to my neck and to my head.”
The agreement comes ahead of a strike authorization vote which, if passed, would lead to a work stoppage that could have devastating ripple effects on the U.S. economy and supply chain. The union’s contract with UPS was set to expire in less than seven weeks. Two of the workers major concerns, according to CNN, are air conditioning in trucks and higher wages. The former has now been met, but Teamsters and UPS did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the status of wage discussions. Still, the strike authorization vote is moving forward, according to a tweet from Teamsters.
More from Gizmodo
Kevin Hurler
Wed, June 14, 2023
Image: Jonathan Weiss (Shutterstock)
Don’t forget to thank your mailman, come rain, snow, heat, or hail. After years of putting up with sweltering temperatures inside their vehicles, UPS has reached a deal with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union that represents nearly 340,000 drivers, to add air conditioning to UPS trucks both new and old.
According to a press release from UPS, air conditioning will be included in newly purchased trucks beginning on January 1, 2024. While this is a ways off, and excludes legacy vehicles, UPS added that trucks with AC will be dispatched to the parts of the country most susceptible to high heat first. Additionally, UPS will retrofit older trucks with a cab fan within thirty days of the union ratifying a new contract with the courier service—the union’s current contract expires on August 1. Trucks without air conditioning will get a second fan installed by June 1, 2024.
“The Teamsters and UPS agreed to tentative language to equip the delivery and logistics company’s fleet of vehicles with air conditioning systems, new heat shields, and additional fans,” Teamsters said in a tweet yesterday.
UPS also agreed to include exhaust heat shields in truck cargo bays both in new trucks and, within 18 months of the union ratifying the contract, in old trucks. UPS says that these heat shields can dramatically reduce the heat conducted onto the cargo floor by as much as 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Both new and old trucks will also receive an air intake vent on the passenger side of the vehicle leading into the cargo area to circulate air. Old trucks will be retrofitted with the vent within 18 months after the contract is ratified.
“We have reached an agreement with the Teamsters on new heat safety measures that build on important actions UPS rolled out to employees in the spring, which included new cooling gear and enhanced training,” UPS said in its release. “We care deeply about our people, and their safety remains our top priority. Heat safety is no exception.”
UPS drivers have been struggling with balmy trucks for years, and that struggle is only exacerbated as heat waves appear to become more commonplace. Just last month, a heat wave began to cook the Pacific Northwest—a region that is not typically equipped to handle lofty temperatures—with temperatures on both the low and high end of the region’s forecast on certain days hitting 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average. Some UPS drivers have gotten crafty, like Simone Martin, who would dunk fabric into a container of ice water to wear on the back of her neck in order to stay cool during a major heat wave last year.
“That was the worst day for me,” Martin told Gizmodo last summer, citing July 21, 2022 as a particularly hot day in the city. “I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to keep stopping and reapplying the ice thing to my neck and to my head.”
The agreement comes ahead of a strike authorization vote which, if passed, would lead to a work stoppage that could have devastating ripple effects on the U.S. economy and supply chain. The union’s contract with UPS was set to expire in less than seven weeks. Two of the workers major concerns, according to CNN, are air conditioning in trucks and higher wages. The former has now been met, but Teamsters and UPS did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the status of wage discussions. Still, the strike authorization vote is moving forward, according to a tweet from Teamsters.
More from Gizmodo
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