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UPS has reached a contract agreement with its 340,000-person strong union Tuesday, averting a strike that had the potential to disrupt logistics nationwide for businesses and households alike.

The Teamsters called the tentative agreement “historic” and “overwhelmingly lucrative.” It includes, among other benefits, higher wages and air conditioning in delivery trucks.

Members of the Teamsters, angered by a contract they say was forced on them five years ago by union leadership, clashed with UPS over pay as profits for the delivery company soared in recent years. Union leadership was upended last year with the election of Sean O’Brien, a vocal critic of the union president who signed off on that contract, James Hoffa, the son of the famous Teamsters firebrand.

FILE - Actor Jason Kravits carries a sign on a picket line outside Paramount in Times Square in New York on July 17, 2023. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

You don’t know their names but you might recognize their faces. Hollywood’s “journeyman” actors tend to work for scale pay, and spend at least as much time lining up work as working.

FILE - Members of the The Writers Guild of America picket outside Fox Studios on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, in Los Angeles. Getting control of the use of artificial intelligence is a central issue in the current strikes of Hollywood's actors and writers, which on Friday, July 21, 2023, entered its second week. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

Getting control of the use of artificial intelligence is a central issue in the current strikes of Hollywood’s actors and writers.

UPS teamsters and workers hold a rally, Friday, July 21, 2023, in Atlanta, as a national strike deadline nears. The Teamsters said Friday that they will resume contract negotiations with UPS, marking an end to a stalemate that began two weeks ago when both sides walked away from talks while blaming each other. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

As the deadline to reach a new contract nears, a potential UPS strike feels closer than ever. The Teamsters — which represent some 340,000 UPS workers — are calling for better pay, particularly for part-time workers, and safety improvements.

Marc Maron, right, Hannah Einbinder, from second left, and Debby Ryan walk on a picket line outside Netflix studios on Friday, July 21, 2023, in Los Angeles. The actors strike comes more than two months after screenwriters began striking in their bid to get better pay and working conditions. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

The combined strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters is entering its second week with no sign of a swift ending.

The two side reached a tentative agreement early on safety issues, including equipping more trucks with air conditioning equipment. Under the agreement, UPS said it would add air conditioning to U.S. small delivery vehicles purchased after January 1, 2024.

But a two-tier wage system remained a sticking point. The Teamsters called it “unfair,” and that is ended under the new agreement.

Profits at UPS have grown more than 140% since the last contract was signed as the arrival of a deadly pandemic drastically transformed the manner in which households get what they need.

Unionized workers argued that were the ones shouldering growth at the Atlanta company and appeared dead set on righting what they saw as a bad contract.

Member voting begins Aug. 3 and concludes Aug. 22.

UPS has the largest private-sector contract with workers in North America and the last breakdown in labor talks a quarter century ago led to a 15-day walkout by 185,000 workers that crippled the company.