Albertson S Inc

Shoppers usually swipe their club cards to gain discounts at the big supermarket chains. Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers union will ask customers to use the cards to show support for grocery employees. The union plans to set up information tables in front of 16 Albertsons stores in Southern California as it seeks to win customers' sympathy as contract talks are underway.

Just a day after agreeing to extend contract talks for three weeks, the union that represents 65,000 Southern California grocery workers targeted Albertsons for a strike vote Sunday. Union officials say that despite the extension, negotiations are moving at a "glacial pace" and they need leverage to reach an agreement with Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs, the region's largest supermarket chains.

The prospect of a strike at Albertsons grocery stores conjured up an unhappy sense of deja vu for workers and customers Sunday as they wondered what was ahead. The three-year contract for workers at the three largest Southland grocery chains is set to expire April 9 after two extensions in the last month. On Sunday, union workers at Supervalu Inc.'s Albertsons were voting on whether to give union leaders the authority to call a strike.

Union negotiators will head back into contract talks with Southern California's largest supermarket chains this week armed with new leverage -- the permission of Albertsons workers to call a strike. "We needed to send a message to Albertsons," said Suzanne Castro, a clerk at a store in Oceanside. Castro said she was frustrated by the slow pace of talks. Castro was one of thousands of Albertsons workers who voted Sunday to authorize the United Food and Commercial Workers union to call a strike.

In a filing with the National Labor Relations Board, the Southern California grocery workers union alleged that the Albertsons supermarket chain violated federal labor law in the days leading up to a vote by workers Sunday that gave union leaders the power to call a strike. A three-year contract for workers at three major Southland grocery chains is set to expire April 9 after two extensions in the last month.

As the picket signs were being packed away three years ago, Georgene Haubenreisser urged the relatives she had helped steer into supermarket careers to get out of the business. Haubenreisser herself planned to hang on until she could retire, having already put in 24 years. The matriarch of a family with 10 members who had staked out careers in Ralphs supermarket aisles, she became disillusioned with the grocery industry after the hardships of a 141-day labor dispute that ended in February 2004.

Southern California's three largest supermarket chains and the grocery workers union resumed talks Monday with both sides urging harmony. Negotiations broke down April 4 amid escalating tensions over the threat of a strike by the union and an employee lockout by the companies. Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons are negotiating with the union to craft a new agreement for its 65,000 workers. It will replace a contract that originally was set to expire March 5, but has been extended twice.

The Southern California grocery workers union said it withdrew a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the Albertsons supermarket chain violated federal labor law. In March, the United Food and Commercial Workers union charged in a complaint that Albertsons violated the National Labor Relations Act in the days leading up to a vote by workers that gave union leaders the power to call a strike. The union withdrew the complaint last week because of a lack of witnesses.

Union leaders representing 65,000 grocery workers on Tuesday broke off contract talks with Southern California's largest supermarket chains in a dispute over health insurance. The breakdown in negotiations may push the United Food and Commercial Workers union and Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons closer to a repeat of the bitter strike and lockout that turned Southern California grocery shopping into disarray for nearly five months beginning in October 2003.

As Southern California's grocery workers union readies for a strike vote Sunday, there are already efforts to restart negotiations with the big supermarket chains, possibly as soon as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Talks broke off Thursday between the United Food and Commercial Workers union and Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons over a contract for 65,000 workers.