diff --git a/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py b/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py
index e0b23fb335..5061ae46cf 100644
--- a/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py
+++ b/nipype/pipeline/plugins/slurm.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from ...interfaces.base import CommandLine
 from .base import (SGELikeBatchManagerBase, logger, iflogger, logging)
 
+import subprocess
 
 
 class SLURMPlugin(SGELikeBatchManagerBase):
@@ -60,10 +61,11 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
 
     def _is_pending(self, taskid):
         #  subprocess.Popen requires taskid to be a string
-        res = CommandLine('squeue',
-                          args=' '.join(['-j', '%s' % taskid]),
-                          terminal_output='allatonce').run()
-        return res.runtime.stdout.find(str(taskid)) > -1
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(["squeue", '-j', '%s' % taskid],
+                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        o, _ = proc.communicate()
+        return o.find(str(taskid)) > -1
 
     def _submit_batchtask(self, scriptfile, node):
         """