LOS ANGELES -- Union leaders from around the country called Tuesday for a one-day boycott of North American stores owned by Safeway Inc. to show support for 70,000 grocery workers involved in a two-month labor dispute.

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"We want to empty those stores," said Doug Dority, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers. "We want to make sure these cash registers are empty."

Safeway officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The union did not disclose further details of the proposed boycott.

The strategy was announced after 500 union leaders met for two hours behind closed doors at a Century City hotel then marched with thousands of other workers to a supermarket in Beverly Hills.

"It's good that they're supporting us because I know when there are others that need support, we support them, too," said Nicola Davis, a Ralphs cashier. "It needs to be settled."

Police said more than 2,000 people joined the march.

Safeway, Albertsons Inc. and Kroger Co. are locked in the dispute with Southern California grocery clerks over the cost of health care coverage and other issues.

Clerks went on strike or were locked out Oct. 11 at nearly 860 Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions stores from San Diego to San Luis Obispo. Safeway owns the Vons and Pavilion chains.

Rick Icaza, president of Local 770 of the UFCW, said other unions had vowed to raise $4 million for a general strike fund that would aid the grocery workers.

National AFL-CIO President John Sweeney did not attend the strategy session but delivered a speech after the gathering was opened to the media.

"Shame on them for what they are trying to do," Sweeney said of the grocery chains involved in the dispute. "And shame on us if we don't stop them."

Sweeney pointed out that Southern California has been the sight of several key labor setbacks in the past. Closed auto plants in the 1980s and aerospace cutbacks in the 1990s meant the loss of thousands of jobs, he said.

"The selfish appetite of the grocery chains could be a knockout punch," Sweeney said.

Melissa Gilbert, president of the Screen Actors Guild, said its 100,000 members would not cross picket lines.

Negotiations were scheduled to resume Friday between the supermarket operators and the grocery clerks. It will be first bargaining session between the two sides since talks broke off Dec. 7.

The UFCW said the grocery chains withdrew a proposal for a cost-of-living increase in the third contract year and shaved $1.08 an hour off the proposed contribution to health care premiums.

The grocery companies countered they were no longer willing to absorb all the costs involved in maintaining health care benefits. The national supermarket companies that run the chains -- Albertsons Inc., Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc. -- say they face pressure from Wal-Mart, Costco and other big box supermarket operators that can sell goods at lower prices because they don't pay as much for their employees' health benefits.