Talks between the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which represents striking and locked-out grocery workers in Southern California, and three US supermarket chains have broken down again.


US grocery retail chains Albertsons, Safeway’s Vons and Kroger’s Ralphs issued a joint statement saying that no new talks had been scheduled, reported Reuters.


The talks were aimed at ending a near two-month long labour dispute in Southern California. The row centres around the supermarkets’ attempts to make workers contribute towards rising health care costs.