John Chaplinski, UPS driver, carries the American flag during a "practice picket" Tuesday in Longview in anticipation of a possible strike involving UPS workers later this summer. Tyler workers are set to take part in a practice picket next week.

Tyler UPS workers are preparing for what could be a nationwide strike — which union leaders now believe may be “inevitable.”

UPS and the Teamsters are in negotiations for a new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement ahead of when the unionized workers’ contract expires at the end of July. This month, Teamsters nationwide authorized a strike by 97 percent should UPS fail to come to terms on a new contract, the union said.

“If this multibillion-dollar corporation fails to deliver on the contract that our hardworking members deserve, UPS will be striking itself,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “The strongest leverage our members have is their labor, and they are prepared to withhold it to ensure UPS acts accordingly.”

O’Brien said the union is demanding the new contract to be in place starting Aug. 1. Frustrations grew on Thursday as the Teamsters walked away from the bargaining table and demanded UPS exchange its “last, best, and final offer no later than” this Friday, according to a press release from the union. Further updates on the negotiations weren’t available as of press time Friday.

“The Teamsters gave UPS a one-week notice on Tuesday to act responsibly and exchange a stronger economic proposal for more than 340,000 full- and part-time workers,” the union said in the press release. “UPS executives couldn’t make it one more day without insulting and ignoring union leaders and rank-and-filers as negotiations resumed on Wednesday.”

Although the Teamsters reached a consensus on 55 non-economic issues with the company on June 19, UPS has continued to seek a cost-neutral contract during economic negotiations, which include issues such as pension, wages, vacation days and more.

“The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable,” O’Brien said. “Executives at UPS, some of whom get tens of millions of dollars a year, do not care about the hundreds of thousands of American workers who make this company run. They don’t care about our members’ families. UPS doesn’t want to pay up. Their actions and insults at the bargaining table have proven they are just another corporation that wants to keep all the money at the top.”

Tyler workers are set to take part in a “practice picket” on July 6 at the UPS facility on Lyons Avenue in Tyler, said Scott Sexton, a 39-year UPS employee, union leader and business agent who represents Teamsters Local 767 which includes Tyler, Longview, Sulphur Springs and Sherman.

Sexton said the purpose of the picket is to grow awareness for the issues and show UPS that workers are ready to take a stand.

“We are putting that pressure on the company to say everybody’s ready and willing if they push us to that point,” Sexton said. “We don’t want to strike, but the ball is in UPS’ court on that.”

Sexton said efforts began earlier this week in Longview with a practice picket that was “a first in the nation.” The picketing continued at facilities “all across the country in an effort to put pressure on UPS to bargain in good faith,” he said.

Earlier in the week, Sexton believed chances of a strike may be about 50/50. As of Thursday morning after negotiations appeared to “go south,” Sexton said his optimism had dwindled. His personal belief is the chances of a strike are “more than 95%.”

The Teamsters represent about 340,000 UPS employees, more than half of the company’s workforce in the largest private-sector contract in North America. If a strike occurs, it would be the first since a 15-day walkout by 185,000 workers in 1997, according to the AP.

The Tyler facility employees approximately 200 people, including about 120 full-time drivers and a mix of other full- and part-time employees who load trucks in the morning or work in the evening. Most of those employees are Teamsters, Sexton said.

UPS has said it delivers about 6% of the nation’s gross domestic product. That means a strike would carry with it potentially far-reaching implications for the economy.

The AP reported that UPS delivers around 25 million packages a day, or about a quarter of all U.S. parcel volume, according to the global shipping and logistics firm Pitney Bowes. That’s about 10 million parcels more than it delivered each day pre-COVID.

The Teamsters said a strike would cause “devastating disruptions to the supply chain in the U.S. and other parts of the world.”

“We have an economy today that is reliant on parcel delivery and no one in the game handles more packages per day or provides better service than Teamsters at UPS. Our members are fighting for a post-pandemic agreement that honors the sacrifices they made to keep this country moving during the last several years,” Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman said in a statement. “Time has run out for UPS to give workers that honorable contract. The Teamsters repeatedly told the company from the beginning of this process that there would be no extensions. But UPS has sat on its hands and chosen to turn its back on these workers. Come Aug. 1, it’s going to be … hard for UPS to ignore us any longer.”

Sexton reiterated the impact of a strike would greatly affect Americans. No packages would be delivered and parcels already shipped would be stuck in the system until the strike ends, he said.

In addition to addressing part-time pay and what workers say is excessive overtime, the union wants improvements to driver safety, particularly the lack of air conditioning in delivery trucks, which has been blamed for the death of a driver and hospitalizations of others.

This past week, the union and the company announced they reached a tentative agreement to equip more trucks with air conditioning equipment. Under the agreement, UPS said it would add air conditioning to U.S. small delivery vehicles purchased after Jan. 1, 2024.

Also, the union says two fans would be installed in all vehicles when a new contract is ratified. It also said the company agreed to add heat shield to some vehicles and put air vents in all cars within 18 months of a new contract. Under the agreement, UPS says roughly 95% of its existing U.S. package delivery fleet will be enhanced, the AP reported.

Annual profits at UPS in the past two years are close to three times what they were pre-pandemic, the AP reported. The Atlanta company returned about $8.6 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks in 2022, and forecasts another $8.4 billion for shareholders this year.

The Teamsters say that profit growth is largely due to the hard work of UPS drivers and warehouse workers.