The United Steelworkers union representing 30,000 U.S. oil workers reached a tentative deal on a four-year contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, potentially ending a nationwide strike that has lasted for over a month. The proposed deal includes annual wage increases and maintains the cost-sharing ratio of the union’s current health-care plan, the United Steelworkers said in a statement on Thursday. It also contains language addressing the USW’s concerns about worker fatigue and contractors performing routine maintenance at oil refineries. The accord could end a strike at U.S. plants that began on Feb. 1 and has since spread to sites that account for almost 20 percent of the country’s total refining capacity. It’s the first national walkout of U.S. oil workers since 1980, when a work stoppage lasted three months. The USW represents workers at plants that together account for 64 percent of U.S. fuel output. “We […]