Teamsters Call Off Pipeline Strike

Teamster pipeline workers are heading back to the job after the union and the Pipe Line Contractors Association struck a deal extending an expired contract.

The National Pipe Line Agreement, which expired on Jan. 31, 2011, will be extended until April 13. The two sides will return to bargaining over the next three months. At stake is the future of pipeline workers retirement plans. The union and management group are battling over types of retirement plans.

The impasse led to a strike that began in at pipeline work sites in Pennsylvania and West Virginia Jan. 1 and spread to pipelines in California early this week.

The National Pipe Line Agreement covers Teamsters at more than 70 companies that build and maintain gas and oil pipelines.

Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc