San Diego County grocery workers, along with thousands of others across Southern California and parts of Central California, have voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing their union leadership to call a strike should contract talks with major supermarket chains stall in the coming weeks.
The United Food and Commercial Workers announced Wednesday morning the outcome of a strike authorization vote conducted at multiple locations on Monday and Tuesday. Some 46,000 unionized workers, from north of Santa Maria all the way to the U.S.- Mexico border, are covered by the vote. Employees with Ralph’s and Albertsons Companies, which owns Vons and Pavilions, are still working under a three-year contract that expired March 3.