UFCW Local 5 and UFCW Local 648 have reached a tentative agreement with Safeway, averting a planned strike that would have been the first regional labor stoppage against the company in nearly three decades,

MARTINEZ — Hours before thousands of Safeway workers across the Bay Area were set to strike, workers for UFCW Local 5 and UFCW Local 648 agreed to a tentative agreement with the company Saturday that would guarantee higher wages and improved benefits for workers.