Unions representing thousands of janitors and grocery store workers in the Twin Cities have reached agreements with their employers, averting a strike or other disruptions.

The Service Employees International Union Local 26, which represents more than 4,000 commercial office building cleaners, reached an agreement with five maintenance companies early Sunday morning, capping a marathon 26-hour bargaining session. The union called off a strike that was to begin Tuesday.

Members will vote Saturday on whether to ratify the three-year agreement.

Janitors would gain access to a common health insurance plan that improves benefits and keeps premiums affordable, according to a statement by the union. Workers, many of whom have had hours cut back recently, will be guaranteed a 40-hour workweek by 2012 as well as an opportunity to work during the day.

In addition, workers can use environmentally friendly cleaning products after complaining that toxic solvents had caused health problems.

The companies, bargaining as the Minneapolis-St. Paul Contract Cleaners Association, said in a statement that the agreement "provides janitors with increased wages and enhanced health benefits, while also providing ... cost controls [the companies] require in this challenging economic environment."

Meanwhile, members United Food and Commercial Workers Local 653, which represents more than 11,000 workers at Cub Foods, Byerly's, Lunds and 17 other supermarkets in Minneapolis and the western metro area, voted Sunday to approve a three-year contract.

The agreement freezes wages, sacrifices a week's vacation pay to be used as a pension contribution (workers take an unpaid vacation), cuts the retirement benefit rate from $65 to $35, and eliminates holiday pay on Labor Day and Christmas Day when it falls on a Sunday.

The union was boxed into a $60 million to $80 million unfunded liability in its pension that had to be resolved during bargaining.

Raymond Sawicky, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 653, said the contract "passed strongly" and without much dissent. Sawicky declined to provide a count, and said that about 12 percent of the membership cast a vote.

"This was the toughest negotiation I've been in," Sawicky said. "This one took a piece of me."

Some union members, who didn't want to be named because of job-loss fears, complained that the union cast a veil of secrecy over the proceedings and didn't do enough to preserve future wages, especially for part-time workers.

"It's totally wrong how this thing was done," said one grocery worker. "We didn't know what we were voting on until we got there, and we were handed a sheet of paper and forced to decide on the spot how we wanted to vote. We couldn't talk it over with our spouses, with our co-workers, nothing."

The ratification meeting was held at a high school in Brooklyn Park, which some said was a challenge for members to attend. The union represents workers in Minneapolis and its western suburbs.

Across the country, grocery stores have sought concessions from workers, saying they're facing competition from nonunion shops such as Wal-Mart, Target, Aldi and Trader Joe's.

"It's all about economics and flexibility," said Dave Brennan, co-director of the Institute for Retailing Excellence at the University of St. Thomas. "That's one reason why you don't find Wal-Marts and a few others in central cities. They want to avoid unions and unionizing efforts required by cities."

Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335