Grocery strike averted

Marathon negotiations ended Monday with a tentative contract agreement between Southern California's three biggest supermarket chains and their workers' union, averting a potentially crippling strike.Gregory J.Wilcox in the Daily News.

Negotiators had been in discussions for 23 consecutive days, but tension increased late last week. Both sides worked through a deadline Sunday, when 62,000 workers could have walked off the job, and bargained through the night to reach the tentative pact addressing health benefits.

The deal likely came as a relief to many shoppers. Supermarket executives had planned to close hundreds of stores if there had been a strike.