PITTSBURGH (AP) - The labor dispute between Pittsburgh-area snow plow drivers and Allegheny County thawed just before the region’s roads turned to ice.
Teamsters Local 249 had threatened to strike as early as Wednesday, when the city and its suburbs were hit with any icy mix of snow and freezing rain - but that was avoided when the sides reached a tentative contract agreement Tuesday night.
The union drivers have been working without a contract since December 2012 and rejected the county’s last offer which included a 2-percent pay increase and required them to pay more for health insurance.
Neither side is releasing terms of the new deal, but union officials expect the drivers to ratify the deal when they vote on it this weekend.
Meanwhile, the drivers were plowing the county’s 640 miles of roads early Wednesday.
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