Arizona UPS drivers to benefit from new air conditioning in delivery vans
After a years-long endeavor to implement air conditioning to UPS delivery vehicles, the company and union members reached an agreement on Tuesday regarding employees' heat safety measures.
Dave Dapper, UPS Teamsters representative for the Phoenix area, said he believes the agreement is especially beneficial for the more than 2,000 United Parcel Service delivery drivers in Arizona who endure temperatures that climb above 140 degrees inside trucks during the summer months. The deal, which is still subject to change, promises to equip all delivery vehicles with air conditioning starting next year.
"This is a major win for our employees. UPS is finally beginning to recognize climatic conditions affect the health and welfare of our workers." Dapper said, "We've had a number of people go down from heat-related incidents in Arizona. We're happy there's a tentative agreement.
The agreement comes nearly a year after the viral video showing an Arizona UPS driver staggering on a front porch due to the soaring July temperature, bringing awareness to the risks people working outside in Arizona's extreme summer heat face. The roughly 30-second video caught by a doorbell camera captured the UPS employee slumping to the ground while delivering an envelope at the door of a Scottsdale residence.
Dapper said heat-related incidents in the state have gone as far as employees being hospitalized, and some others have suffered from kidney failure.
According to UPS spokesperson Becky Biciolis, the next step after the agreement will be finalizing the contract, which she said does not yet have a set date to be signed.
Some of the portions of the agreement may change before a contract is established, Biciolis said. But new measures discussed in the tentative announcement include equipping all newly purchased small delivery vehicles with air conditioning starting Jan. 1, 2024, and first assigning the new assets to the hottest parts of the country.
The agreement includes other adjustments to package cars that improve airflow, like implementing a system that brings fresh air from the front of the vehicle into the cargo area, which is typically the one that heats up the most.
Biciolis said the new implementations will likely require months of planning. While the majority of delivery vehicles still don't have AC, UPS is taking other measures to protect workers from heat risk.
Some recent implementations include more heat awareness training, additional fans, cooling uniform fabric, and more access to water and electrolyte beverages.
The Tuesday deal came after the local unions representing UPS Teamsters conducted an election for the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee last week to call a nationwide strike at UPS in case an agreement was not met. Results of the vote to authorize a strike were scheduled to be announced Friday, according to UPS Teamsters.
While the results of the vote have not been announced, if the 340,000 UPS Teamsters decided to strike, it would be the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history, according to CNN.
Dapper said he was happy the union obtained a settlement that responds to what employees were asking for. "It may have taken a while to reach an agreement, and it still may take some time to implement, but we look to the future and we're happy we finally got this," Dapper said.
He added he hopes UPS continues to listen to the needs of workers and respond to their demands. In addition to air-conditioned vehicles, the union is demanding higher pay and closing the pay gaps between different types of workers.
"We do not want to go on a strike. All we want is protection for our workers," Dapper said. "It's up to UPS, they're the ones who have made promises over the last number of years, and we want to be rewarded for the hard work that our people do every day."
USA Today reporter Isabelle Butera contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Heat exhausted Arizona UPS drivers to get AC in new agreement
