07/25/2016 – With temperatures soaring, many Motor Vehicle Service Craft employees have complained about management’s failure to maintain functioning air conditioning systems in their trucks – and the APWU has addressed those complaints at the national level, Craft Director Michael O. Foster reports.
“The timely repair of air conditioning has been an issue since the USPS agreed to install air conditioning in the 1998 Collective Bargaining Agreement,” Foster said.
In response to the union’s recent objections over the Postal Service’s failure to adhere to the contract, management at USPS headquarters issued a letter to the field on July 8 [PDF], instructing the managers of Vehicle Maintenance Facilities, Vehicle Operations and Fleet Operations that:
“Effective immediately, cargo vans, tractors, and spotters purchased with air conditioning must have the air conditioning system maintained as designed. During summer months or times when the temperature is expected to exceed 75 degrees, these vehicles must have the air conditioning system repaired within one week from the date the VMF is notified. In the event parts must be ordered to perform the repair, the vehicle may be placed back in service for a period of up to one week until the parts are received. When the heat index is above 100, the vehicle must be repaired immediately and not delayed for the one week. Parts must be ordered in an express manner when the weather conditions are expected to exceed 75 degrees. Air conditioning repairs may be postponed until the scheduled maintenance occurs when that delay would exceed the one week time frame if temperatures are projected to remain below 75 degrees for the entire time until the next scheduled maintenance.”
“This policy is the latest effort to provide functioning air conditioning in PVS vehicles for the health and welfare of our drivers,” Foster said.
source: APWU
at our post office we get “hot air” 24/7 from the low IQ, uneducated, po mismanagers!
Why isn’t Rolando pushing for AC? He doesn’t care. Only focused on the number of bodies he can have.
the nalc is not a good union. give yourself a pay raise by quitting the union
Waa Waa Waa
When I carried in the 1980s we were lucky if the jeeps ran.
The carriers union doesn’t care about A/c even thou its been in the apwu contract for 18 years. Rolando says Michigan has a/c all winter, and Florida has great heaters all Summer, problem solved. We need to break up the National Unions, they just don’t do enough to represent each regions unique problems. Go Teamsters, lets punt the AFL-CIO. Watch as Rolando leaves right after we get another crap contract to take his AFL-CIO position.
How about city and rural carriers who have to drive those shitbox LLV’s? They blow hot air out of the vents, hot air from the chassis leaks up to the floorboard, the deck in back gets so hot you can’t touch it, and the inside temperature can get up to 135 degrees – I know this because we’ve taken thermometers out on the street with us. When the weather service calls for a 90+ degree day, it’ll be at least 115 degrees with the hot sun going through the windshield. The paint on the steering wheel has long since peeled off on my hands.
I know A/C is not viable in a vehicle where the door is going to be open all day, but I have seen cargo trucks with lockable chain rear doors for use in the heat that are secure. More flow from front to back would provide more air instead of the piss poor wind fart from a dash fan that only circulates air that’s 120 degrees or worse. The LLV’s could have had cargo side windows with screens or could be rolled down from the inside. But, as long as it’s not a manager in there, they couldn’t give a rat’s ass less.
That’s why we find it annoying that the only time we have somebody out doing a 3999 or route examination is when the weather is postcard perfect and there is no chance of rain. But to be fair, you could overheat in the back end very easily if you are used to the LLV, and somebody who doesn’t get in them much could have a heatstroke very quickly.
In winter weather, my door track has the bad habit of filling with water that quickly freezes the door open, and even with de-icer I can’t get it shut and have had to drive back to the office across town with the door open in bitterly cold weather.
I don’t know what the new fleet will be like, and I won’t be working for the USPS after December, but I hope for those in the future that some steps to make the trucks more tolerable will be available. And I still laugh at people who bitch about the weather when all they do is go from their car to the front door of wherever they’re going and think it’s terrible. I do feel sorry for those who can’t afford A/C. I grew up without it too and it makes this time of year horrible.
Our leadership can care less
Just have management add a fan to the scanners. That way the employees will stay cool and management will know where the employees are every second of the day!
Y dont LLV and FFV have air
you do not have to put a thermometer in a LLV to check temps. You can check temp with your scanner if you know how.
Why one craft and and not all? I guess carriers are made
of a different metal. The other day one of the carriers in
our station locked up a thermometer in his LLV and went
to lunch. 150 degrees when he got back. When your walking
you can’t stand to get back to your truck after a park and loop. When your
riding you can’t stand to be in your truck and the fan blows
the hot air around like a convection oven. I hope the
Carriers are taken into consideration when the new LLV
Comes out
Screw the VMF techs who have to work on them they can suck up some A/C on there lunch break
Meanwhile letter carriers work in a convection oven that well exceeds 120 degrees!