Manitoba Safeway workers voted on Sunday to ratify a four-year collective agreement with Sobeys, avoiding a strike.

Earlier this month, the roughly 2,200 employees who are members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832 (UFCW Local 832), voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike to back contract demands.

According to the UFCW Local 832 website, the bargaining committee was able to preserve the rights and benefits of the workers and avoid major concessions.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our bargaining committee and our members for giving us such a strong strike mandate that made this deal possible,” said Jeff Traeger, president of UFCW Local 832, in a statement.

“This is our first full round of negotiations with Sobeys since they took over ownership of the Safeway brand in Western Canada, and they were pushing hard for major concessions since day one, it wasn’t until the final hours of bargaining that we were able to make serious movement and come up with a tentative agreement that works for both sides.”

The new contract protects the members’ no-cost benefits, dental plan and seniority rights, It also builds upon these protections with wage gains in the third and fourth year of the contract.

“Knowing the realities that the company faces, our bargaining committee got the best contract possible,” said Traeger.