Union breaks off Southern Calif. grocery talks

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Southern California Grocery Workers union said on Tuesday it had broken off contract talks with three supermarket chains over wages and health benefits.

Workers have been in and out of talks with Albertsons, owned by Supervalu Inc., Kroger Co.'s Ralphs and Safeway Inc.'s Vons since March 5, when the contract first expired.

A spokesperson for the three chains said she had seen the union's statement, but maintained that negotiations were continuing.

"The supermarket chains are a little confused (by the union statement)," said Adena Tessler, who represents the three companies.

"We've spoken with our labor people and they are still in the negotiating room with the mediator -- that was around 30 minutes ago -- and the union. And we have every reason to believe negotiations are continuing."

Mike Shimpock, spokesperson for the Grocery Workers union, said the supermarkets had asked employees to pay more for benefits while the corporations pay less.

"The employers are demanding their employees sacrifice even further only to increase the markets already record profits," Shimpock said in a statement. "If they want to further punish our members, we have nothing left to talk about."

Both sides returned to the negotiating table after a cooling-off period following a previous breakdown.

Disputes over the same issues, health and pay, paralyzed the industry for nearly five months in 2003 and 2004.