Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers will vote Sunday on whether to accept a contract proposal already on the table and also whether to give their union leaders the power to launch a strike. The moves come after the three major supermarket chains - Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons - did not meet the union's noon deadline for submiting a new contract proposal (union leaders consider the current one "flawed"). The chains say it is the union's fault there isn't an agreement. The strike authorization vote involves workers for Ralphs and Vons; UFCW members who work at Albertsons voted in March to authorize the union to call a strike. There's still time for both sides to make enough progress to ward off those strike votes (rank-and-file seldom vote against the leadership), but it's not looking good. This seems like a huge gamble by the UFCW. (LAT, OC Register)