(KGTV) – San Diego grocery store workers voted in favor of authorizing a strike.

Officials with the UFCW Local 135 union said late Tuesday that 97 percent of its members supported a strike authorization.

While the vote does not mean Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs employees will immediately walk off the job, the decision allows union leaders to call for a strike at any time.

The union says workers have been working without a contract since March, and over a dozen meetings in which employees asked for better wages and improved benefits have come and gone without a resolution.

Representatives from the three major grocers said they are committed to working with the unions to avoid a possible work stoppage.