SAN DIEGO -- On the 105th day of the their lockout, hundreds of grocery workers marched through downtown San Diego to demand quick action to reach a contract.

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The United Food and Commercial Workers held a rally at Civic Center Plaza, where they blamed corporate greed for a lack of progress in the talks.

The march is part of labor's new strategy to persuade consumers and community groups to support strikers in a variety of ways, including participating in demonstrations, town hall meetings and letter-writing campaigns.

Several workers said the strike has gone on far longer than they expected, forcing them to tap savings to get by. Still, they were adamant they will hold out for a good contract.

An estimated 70,000 Southern California supermarket employees have been out of work since union members voted to strike Safeway's Vons and Pavillions stores in October. Ralphs stores, which are owned by Kroger, and the Albertson's chain responded by locking out their union workers.

Meantime, clerks and locked-out employees are feeling the pinch of the strike more and more every day.

With the strike passing the 100-day mark, national labor leaders have gotten the message: There is strength in numbers and it is time to get more involved.

Rick Icaza, a UFCW representative said, "They have stepped forward to help us in one of the hardest struggles in our history."

Not only is the AFL-CIO getting more visible, but the union is contributing dollars as well.

Jerry Butkiewicz, from the AFL-CIO Labor Council, said, "Organized labor, and the rest of unions, are gonna step up (really) big in this community. We're adopting families to make sure they have financial means to stay out."

The contributions are helping strikers who have been out of work for over three months.

Sandra Jones, a locked out employee, said, "It does a lot. When you're out here a while, you think, 'Does anybody care anymore?' People cross the line more every day. You wonder if people stop caring."