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. Thousands of Albertsons workers voted Sunday to authorize the United Food and Commercial Workers union to call a strike. The contract, signed three years ago after a bitter 141-day strike and lockout, was set to expire March 5 but was extended to April 9 at the urging of a federal mediator. The union did not release Sunday's vote tally, but noted that there were more than 11,000 votes cast and that the union's constitution dictates that 66% must vote yes for it to win strike authorization.
See "Albertsons workers give union strike power", Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2007