Doormen at more than 3,000 city buildings won’t go on strike today after their union and the real estate industry reached a last-minute contract agreement early this morning.

Union and management leaders announced a four-year agreement shortly after 1 a.m. following the extension of a union-imposed midnight strike deadline. The tentative deal, pending approval by the full union membership, was achieved after management agreed to drop two demands that the president of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, Michael Fishman, had identified as chief sticking points: a full-year wage freeze and an employee contribution to health coverage. Mr. Fishman did make concessions, however: he agreed to delay a wage increase for six months and accept a cap on benefits costs in the final two years of the contract.

The 11-hour agreement comes as a relief to more than a million New Yorkers faced with the inconvenience of losing a doorman and disruptions in delivery and trash services. Buildings and tenants had been preparing for a strike for the past several days and even weeks. While many management companies reserved security guards and issued identification cards to tenants, many residents had volunteered to pitch in by manning the doors, sorting mail, cleaning, and taking out garbage.

The tentative pact also saves agencies like the U.S. Postal Service and the city’s Department of Sanitation from having to implement contingency plans in case of disruptions caused by picket lines in a strike.

Early this morning, Mr. Fishman was able to claim victory on a deal that includes for a raise of more than 8% over four years for employees who now annually earn an average of $37,300.

“We’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve in this agreement – not everything we wanted. We’ve made compromises, but we feel it’s a good agreement for all of us,” Mr. Fishman said early this morning, standing at a news briefing alongside management’s chief negotiator, the president of the Realty Advisory Board, James Berg.

The contract will now go to the union’s 28,000 residential doormen, porters, elevator operators, and maintenance workers for approval.

Citing rising operating costs, the Realty Advisory Board had for weeks demanded that the union accept no salary increase in the initial year of the contract and agree to a health insurance premium for the first time. Yet Mr. Berg said he was satisfied with the agreement reached this morning, which achieves a lower overall cost for building owners than a similar deal struck last year with commercial building employees. “The industry was looking for a deal that made sense,” Mr. Berg said at the briefing.

While past contracts had been for three years, both leaders hailed the four-year longevity, saying it would provide added stability for employers and workers.

The settlement followed a marathon series of negotiations over three days at the Sheraton New York Hotel in Midtown.

While the two sides reported little progress through the afternoon, signs began to point in the direction of an agreement as the union-imposed 12:01 a.m. approached. Minutes before midnight, spokesmen for both sides told reporters that a deal was close, and the deadline was extended.

Residential building employees last walked off the job in 1991. The strike lasted 12 days.