AUSTIN, Minn. (AP) &045; Union workers at Hormel Foods Corp. ratified a new four-year contract Wednesday that will increase their pension benefits and pay while making health care more expensive.

It will also avoid a repeat of the 1985-86 strike that saw Gov. Rudy Perpich send National Guard troops to Austin to keep the peace.

The United Food & Commercial Workers announced Wednesday that the new contract was approved by 65 percent of those voting. Details of the deal were not immediately available.

The contract covers more than 3,000 workers at Hormel Foods facilities in Beloit, Wis.; Fremont, Neb.; Atlanta, Ga.; Algona, Iowa, and the flagship plant at Austin.

&uot;We feel happy that we reached an agreement without requiring a work action,&uot; said Jill Cashen, a UFCW spokeswoman.