Southern California Gas Co. has reached a tentative contract accord with union negotiators, averting a strike by most of its 7,600 employees.

SoCal Gas, the nation’s largest natural gas distribution utility, and Local 132 of the Utility Workers Union of America agreed on a new three-year labor contract near midnight Saturday night, said officials from both sides of the negotiations.

The deal, which still must be approved by the union’s rank and file later this month to go into effect, averted a walkout that had begun to seem inevitable. As late in the day as Saturday afternoon, little progress appeared to have been made on the most contentious issues involving healthcare and pension funding.

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