The union representing more than 45,000 grocery store workers from Santa Barbara to San Diego voted Wednesday, June 11 to authorize a strike against supermarket chains Albertsons and Kroger.

No date has been set for a strike.

Also see: Southern California union leaders say 2025 labor surge is most in decades

The United Food and Commercial Workers labor contract expired March 2, and talks have been on-again, off-again after the chief federal mediator was fired earlier this year as part of Trump administration cuts to the federal government.

The union said 90% of its members voted yes to authorize their bargaining team to call for an Unfair Labor Practice strike, protesting alleged labor violations by Albertson and Kroger during the negotiations. An Unfair Labor Practice refers to actions taken by employers or unions that violate the rights of employees or union members, as defined by labor laws.

Spokespersons with Albertsons Cos., which owns Vons and Pavilions, and Kroger Co., which runs Ralphs, the chain’s largest supermarket unit, were not immediately available for comment.

A separate strike authorization vote is planned with San Bernardino-based Stater Bros. in the coming weeks, UFCW Local 324 President Andrea Zinder said. “Stater has been very difficult at the bargaining table.”

Also see: Stater Bros. lays off store clerks, a first for the 89-year-old chain

Zinder said the union hopes to get Isael Hermosillo, the 13-year veteran mediator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, back to the negotiation table. She said he has been kept out of the talks by the federal government, even after the labor unions and supermarket chains agreed to pay him a “per diem” for his expertise.

A freeze on his service was recently lifted, so he likely will be available for the next supermarket talks June 25-27, Zinder said.

“The latest information is that he will be able to participate in late June. He wants to do that,” Zinder said.

Two other chains, Encino-based Gelson’s Markets and Super A Foods, a family-owned supermarket chain based in Commerce that caters to Latino and Asian shoppers in the Los Angeles area, each agreed to extend their labor contracts, which also expired in March. They have historically gone along with the labor contracts negotiated by Albertsons, Ralphs and Stater Bros., Zinder explained.

In total, the five supermarket chains employ more than 65,000 food workers, she said.

UFCW did not elaborate on the unfair labor violations.

Seven UFCW local unions from Santa Barbara to San Diego are working on three-year labor contracts with their respective supermarket chains. Details on what the unions want from the grocery chains are pending, but Zinder previously said that food workers are seeking better pay, affordable healthcare benefits, a better pension and more staffing.

“For four months, we’ve negotiated with Kroger and Albertsons, offering solutions to the staff shortage crisis that hurts store operations, working conditions, and customer service,” UFCW said in a statement. “The companies have dismissed our proposals and claimed that our concerns were ‘anecdotal,’ downplaying the real challenges we and our customers face daily.

“At the same time, the companies have broken labor laws by engaging in unlawful surveillance, interrogation of members at actions, threats, and retaliation for union activity. This is unacceptable.”

Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I’m Nicole Fallert. Can you guess Chipotle’s new dip?

Quick look at Tuesday’s news:

• Anti-ICE protests continued in Los Angeles for a fourth night.
• Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted all 17 members of a panel that advises the CDC on the safety, efficacy and clinical needs of vaccines.
• The man at the center of the Supreme Court case that changed gay marriage is worried about equality.

700 Marines are heading to Los Angeles

Anti-immigration raid protests continued last night as the Pentagon is set to send hundreds of Marines to support the National Guard in California as state officials say they will sue the Trump administration’s decision to “trample over” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority.

The addition of active-duty troops marks a significant escalation. It comes as California officials say they will sue the Trump administration after the president ordered National Guardsmen to Los Angeles without the governor’s consent and after the president even suggested Newsom should be arrested.

Get more coverage on the situation in Los Angeles with USA TODAY:

New Jersey governor’s race will signal Democrats next move

New Jersey’s gubernatorial primary Tuesday is considered one of the best litmus tests for the type of candidate Democrats have an appetite for going forward. There are six Democrats seeking to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy (a fellow Democrat who is term limited). Electability remains an issue in the primary that could hobble progressives with a more aggressive approach, and give more centrist-minded contenders an opening. And many New Jersey Democrats have openly expressed concern in recent reports that their state, which tends to lean blue in presidential elections, might be turning red. Experts have warned how close — and unpredictable — this race will be.

More news to know now

What’s the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

RFK Jr. fires entire CDC vaccine advisory panel

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired all 17 members of a committee that advises the federal government on vaccine safety and will replace them with new members, a move that the Trump administration’s critics warned would create public distrust around the government’s role in promoting public health. Kennedy Jr.’s decision marks a reversal from what a key Republican senator said the Trump Cabinet member had promised during his confirmation hearings earlier this year. One medical expert told USA TODAY that Kennedy was “fixing a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Travelers caught off guard as travel ban rules come into effect

‘It’s scary. It makes me worried. It affects my decisions to go home to visit my family.’

~ Randy Wicaksana, 33, an Indonesian national who has lived in the U.S. for about three years. Wicaksana said he is preparing to return home later this month to renew his visa but is increasingly uncertain about what might await him when he comes to the U.S. again.

Today’s talkers

He was at the center of a Supreme Court case that changed gay marriage. Now, he’s worried.

When Jim Obergefell was sitting in the gallery at the Supreme Court on June 26, 2015, he was waiting to hear his name. The justices were preparing to rule on Obergefell v. Hodges, a case that became a landmark in the progress toward LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. The case, which considered the rights of same-sex couples to marry, ultimately won favor with a majority of the justices, but for Obergefell, the moment wasn’t, and could never be, totally complete. His husband, John Arthur, died years before the ruling was announced. Now, 10 years on, Obergefell sat down with USA TODAY to reflect on how their love for each other helped shape the fight for marriage equality in the U.S., and what progress there is to still be made in the fight for equality. 

Photo of the day: Ed soars

If you’ve missed Ed the zebra’s escapades this past week, the rogue zoo animal was finally caught and given an aerial trip home. He just wanted to see the world from a different point of view!

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.