A weekend strike authorization vote by grocery workers could lead to a replay of a lengthy 2003 strike-lockout that forced shoppers to cross picket lines or find nonunion markets, workers and an analyst said Monday.

The union held the vote Sunday after saying nearly six months of negotiations had failed to yield an acceptable offer from three major supermarket chains in Southern California.

Results of a weekend strike authorization vote showed the voting easily produced the two-thirds majority needed by the union to call a strike against Ralphs, a unit of Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., and Vons Cos., a unit of Pleasanton-based Safeway Inc., according to Mike Shimpock, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Employees at Albertsons stories, owned by Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu Inc., voted in March to give the union permission to send them to the picket line.

Shimpock refused to say exactly how many of the roughly 65,000 grocery workers at the three chains had cast ballots. Turnout exceeded 50 percent, he said.

He also declined to specify the percentage of votes favoring strike authorization. He said workers rejected a partial contract proposal from the supermarkets on pay and health coverage.

The next round of talks had yet to be scheduled.

Local workers said they were preparing for a strike if one takes place.

"It's kind of a no-win situation for me," said Nadia Stahl, 34, a courtesy clerk at the Vons store on the corners of Centre City Parkway and West Felicita Avenue.

Stahl said she began working for the Vons about four months ago. Under the terms of the current contract, her family is not yet eligible to receive medical benefits, she said.

She doesn't support the idea of a strike, Stahl said, but she is ready to walk out if the union decides to do so.

"I would strike and wouldn't cross the picket line," Stahl said. "Financially it would ruin me, but I do want a better contract."

A spokesman for the Vons and Ralphs said fruitful discussions were in progress and the union jumped the gun by calling for the strike-authorization vote.

"Votes on incomplete proposals are meaningless and do nothing to move forward productive negotiations," said supermarket spokesman Brad Chase.

A bitter 4 1/2-month strike and lockout that began in late 2003 ended when employees agreed to a deal. That agreement resulted in new employees receiving lower wages and fewer benefits than those hired before the strike.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union represents about 60,000 employees in Southern California. In San Diego County, the union has about 15,000 members, about 5,000 of them working at stores in North County, a union official said.

The 130 Vons, Ralphs and Albertsons stores in the county make up about three-fourths of all local supermarkets, said Mickey Kasparian, president of Local 135, representing workers at stores in San Diego and Imperial counties.

Under the current contract, employees must work for 12 to 18 months before becoming eligible for health care coverage. Their family members must wait another 18 months to become eligible. Chase said that under the new proposal, workers and their children would become eligible for coverage after six months.

Escondido Albertsons employee Rob Watson, 35, said he voted to reject the contract but he hopes there is not a strike.

"It's going to be hard to live off of nothing," Watson said. "I live paycheck to paycheck."

Kasparian said that union officials have long been warning their members to save up as much money as they could, knowing that a strike was a possibility.

"Our members always have to prepare for the worst, as we do," Kasparian said, adding that the union will do everything in its power to avoid a strike.

Local customers said they hope there is not a strike. Some expressed sympathy for grocery workers, but others were less empathetic.

"If they want to strike that is their business," said Escondido businessman Bill Hoffman. "But if I want to shop here, that's my business and I will cross the picket line - it's a free country."

- The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426 or wbennett@nctimes.com.