The United Parcel Service has reached an agreement with America’s largest union to gradually install air conditioning in the delivery behemoth’s fleet of 93,000 vehicles — a pledge that follows a wave of worker complaints over heat exhaustion last summer.
According to a statement released on the Teamsters Union’s website, the deal will see all of UPS’ larger delivery trucks, smaller sprinter vans, and iconic brown vans purchased after Jan. 1, 2024, equipped with air conditioning systems, heat shields, and additional fans.
Under the new agreement, “two fans would also be installed in the cab of all package cars” within 30 days of contract ramifications, the statement added.
“We are here to protect more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters and get the best contract in the history of our union with this company,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in the statement on Thursday.
Authorization results for the new contract will be announced on Friday.
The long-sought news comes one year after summer heatwaves left UPS delivery workers suffering from heat exhaustion. In one case, having to work in sweltering temperatures led to a morbid ending.
In July 2022, UPS driver Esteban Chavez Jr. was delivering packages in Pasadena, Calif., when he collapsed as temperatures soared into the upper 90s.
Chavez Jr. was reportedly comatose for more than 20 minutes before someone noticed and called for help.
He was later pronounced dead — just one day after his 24th birthday — which his family believed was from heat stroke or dehydration.
Just weeks later, a UPS worker in Scottsdale, Ariz., appeared woozy on footage captured by a Ring doorbell system before crumbling to the ground.
That day in Arizona, temperatures were in the triple digits.
The Teamsters Union has spent years fighting for more protection for UPS staffers working in extreme heat.
UPS, which delivers up to 27 million packages per day — a massive 25 billion per year — treated more than 100 employees for heat-related illness last year, according to NPR.
Nearly all American cars are already equipped with air conditioning, and the decision to equip UPS vehicles with AC has pushed Teamsters to consider a strike if a new contract deal isn’t decided upon by July 31, when the current contract expires.
“We care deeply about our people, and their safety remains our top priority. Heat safety is no exception,” UPS spokesperson Michelle Polk told The Post.
Polk also pointed to a blog post UPS published earlier this month titled “5 ways UPS is improving health safety for employees,” which sites upgraded cooling clothing, new in-car fans, and increased access to ice and cold water as ways the delivery giant is keeping workers safe in hot conditions.