This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

After months of stalled contract negotiations, grocery workers at Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs stores voted Wednesday to give union leaders the authority to call a strike.

Members of seven United Food and Commercial Workers union locals voted “overwhelmingly” to allow a strike, labor leaders said, though they did not immediately provide a tally of the votes.

The decision itself does not trigger a strike, but gives the union leverage to call a walkout whenever it wants.

Employees are still working under a three-year contract that expired March 3.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Correction: An earlier headline for this story indicated workers had voted to strike when in fact the vote is in favor of letting union leaders authorize a strike. The post has been updated.

(1) Together, we voted to REJECT the pitiful contract offer that corporate grocery executives left on the table. 96% of membership across Southern California UFCW Locals said NO to corporate greed and YES to fighting for what we’re owed. pic.twitter.com/XkDGI770NT — UFCW Local 770 (@UFCW770) June 26, 2019