Negotiators for UPS and the Teamsters union have reached a tentative agreement on a crucial issue in their contract talks: The shipping giant has finally agreed that new delivery vans will include air conditioning, starting with vans purchased next year.
It will take an undetermined number of years to have the new air conditioned vans make up the entire fleet, which now stands at 95,000 delivery vehicles.
Still, the union hailed the long-sought agreement as a “major tentative deal.”
It said the company agreed to equip all larger delivery vehicles, smaller sprinter vans, and all of UPS’ most recognizable brown package vans purchased after Jan. 1, 2024 with in-cab air conditioning systems.
There is apparently less immediate relief for drivers of vehicles already in operation.
The current fleet will all get two fans per van after the contract is ratified. In addition, there will be air induction vents installed in the cargo compartments to alleviate extreme temperatures in the back of the vehicles.
Non-electric vehicles will have exhaust heat shields installed.
Temperatures have been known to exceed 120 degrees in the cargo areas of the trucks, according to the union.
It says UPS has received numerous citations and hazard letters from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for heat-related injuries of its members.
But there are still major issues to be resolved in the contract talks, including union demands for significantly greater pay, and the closing of pay gaps between different classes of UPS workers that was put in place to allow UPS to start Saturday deliveries in 2019.
