Tens of thousands of unionized Verizon workers in the United States are set to return to work Monday after ending a 2-week strike, even though there is no agreement on a new contract.

Unions representing 45,000 workers from in the eastern U.S. say the strike was called off after Verizon agreed to negotiations on key issues of health care cost, pensions, job security and sick pay.

Representatives from the unions gave no timetable when the bargaining will begin.

Verizon says the strike resulted in repair and service delays to the company's landline, cable and FIOS Internet operations.

Union officials say striking workers failed to receive paychecks for the past two weeks.

Neither side is claiming victory as the strike ends, but instead are looking ahead to negotiations. A union leader says the talks could take months to reach an agreement on a new contract.