Amid rising temperatures last year, unionized UPS workers made heat an issue – but despite a key contract win, workers say little progress has been made
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The company’s dark aluminum package vans can amplify outdoor heat, with workers having recorded temperatures over 120F (49C) in the vehicles.
The heat is not merely uncomfortable but also dangerous, with drivers suffering heatstroke on the job each summer and incidents turning fatal in some cases. Pacic has seen these dangers in his own region: this month, a UPS driver was hospitalized after getting into an accident while experiencing heat exhaustion, union officials say. And last August, Chris Begley, a 28-year UPS veteran, suffered a medical emergency while driving in 103F heat. He died four days later.
Amid spiking temperatures last summer, 340,000 unionized UPS workers made heat a key issue during labor negotiations with their employer. They secured a major win when, as part of a new union contract, the company agreed that each of the iconic chocolate-brown package vans it purchased after 1 January would include air conditioning – part of a commitment to equip 28,000 package cars with the cooling devices by the contract’s end on 31 July 2028.
Today, however, the union says UPS has made little progress toward that goal. CNN reported last month that it has not purchased any new vans since 1 January, and as such, only a small fraction of its delivery drivers have access to cooling technology.
They already agreed to include it in new vans. The issue they’re complaining about is that UPS hasn’t purchased new vehicles this year, so no progress is being made.
I didn’t realize they were going electric already, which would require that essentially anyway, so that was literally a “free” concession on the UPS side. That was going to happen simply by proxy anyway.
If that’s all true… then is this a case of UPS actively trying to avoid installing AC, or just a side effect of UPS purchasing new vehicles in bulk at set intervals as they age, that don’t happen to have happened in the last 8 months? Did UPS purchase a ton of new vehicles in the time between the Union agreement and January 1st? If so, were those purchases already in the works, or were they setup specifically to avoid this provision? Does UPS already have spare vehicles in their fleet when the current ones in use break down completely meaning they don’t need to purchase replacements currently?
I don’t think this is nearly as simple as the article and complaint is trying to make it sound, even with the fact the current trucks don’t have AC is bullshit to begin with.
Its definitely a case of UPS trying to kick the can down the road with a smidge of other factors. They cannot be in violation of the contract if they still have 4 years of contract left to be in compliance