In the hope of restarting negotiations, workers from Teamsters Union Local 533 lowered their picket lines Tuesday from Granite Construction Co. sites in Sparks, Lockwood and Floriston, Calif. and returned to work after a strike that began Sunday.

“We do this in good faith and ask the company to return to the table and bargain in good faith,” Teamsters Local 533 secretary-treasurer Paul Tea said in a press release.

The union agreed at an emergency meeting Tuesday to go back to the bargaining table.

Negotiations between Granite and the union stopped on Friday in the midst of discussing a contract extension. Tea said the dispute involved undisclosed articles in the contract, though he did say Granite has sought a wage decrease from $21 to $13 for 60 of its drivers, who are responsible for pouring concrete for construction projects.

When no agreement was reached, Teamsters picketed the Granite headquarters in Sparks and the Interstate 80 widening project in Floriston late Sunday night. The picket continued Monday when Granite released a statement to the media.

“Granite Construction Company takes these issues very seriously,”

Granite branch manager Rod Cooper said in the statement. “We had been in negotiations with Teamsters Union Local 533 to try to reach a new agreement that would be fair to the company, the employees and the union. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do so and the negotiations

broke down.”

Neither Cooper nor Tea could be reached for comment Tuesday.