UPS promised new delivery vans with AC. It hasn’t bought any

This was supposed to be the year that air conditioning came to UPS delivery vans. It hasn’t worked out that way.

This was supposed to be the year that air conditioning came to UPS delivery vans. It hasn’t worked out that way. Despite a promise in the contract reached with the Teamsters union last year, UPS has not yet purchased any new vans with AC, even as temperatures soar across the country and the dangers of extreme heat put workers in harms way in and out of doors. Almost none of the nearly 100,000 brown package vans have AC. Temperatures inside the trucks, both the cab and especially the cargo space where drivers need to go to fetch and drop off packages, can regularly get well over 120 degrees, according to the Teamsters union, which represents more than 300,000 UPS employees. The union’s demand for relief from the heat for its nearly 100,000 members working as delivery drivers was a major sticking point in contract negotiations last year between the union and the package delivery giant. It was far more than an issue of comfort; it was a worker safety issue, according to the union. Drivers have been known to suffer heatstroke, with some coming close to death, while on the job in the vans. And as part of the contract reached in late July of last year, UPS agreed that all vans purchased after January 1 would include air conditioning. UPS also agreed to retrofit existing vans with fans in the cab, heat shields under the cargo area and what are known as “scoop air intakes” in the cargo area. The fans have been installed in all the vans, UPS said. About two thirds have been retrofitted with the heat shields and air scoops, reducing the temperature in the rear cargo by about 17 degrees on average, according to the company.