WELLS (AP) – Workers at a Shaw’s Supermarket distribution center ratified a new contract Sunday, following the lead of employees at dozens of other stores who had averted a possible strike the previous day.

The Maine contract covering 350 workers, and the larger one covering about 5,600 employees in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, expired last weekend, and employees voted overwhelmingly last Sunday to authorize a strike.

The union agreed to extend talks on both contracts for another five days, then struck the deal with Shaw’s late Thursday night, with the help of a federal mediator.

“We’re certainly glad we came to an agreement and we’re pleased that the contract was ratified,” said Shaw’s spokesman Terrence Donilon. “These were tough negotiations for both the retail and the distribution center. … This is about serving the needs of our customers and being a very competitive company.”

Peter Derouen, spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 791, said the contract was ratified by a vote of 169-54.

“It’s a fair and balanced contract,” he said. “Overall, I think given what was on the table a week ago, we did a good job.”

He said the new contract particularly addresses the union’s concerns with health care.

Negotiators had been meeting since June to try to resolve differences over that issue, as well as wages, work rules and pension benefits.

Workers at other Shaw’s stores in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are non-unionized and unaffected by the labor talks. Unionized Shaw’s employees in Connecticut are covered by a different local.

Shaw’s is owned by Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Inc., one of the nation’s largest food and drug retailers.