The latest round of talks in the Southern California grocery strike have ended, and no new discussions have been scheduled, media outlets reported Dec. 8.

Negotiations between labor and management – led by a federal mediator – had resumed after a break earlier in the month.

Roughly 70,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union have been on strike since Oct. 21 against more than 800 Southern California stores operated by Vons, Ralph's, Pavilions and Albertsons. Those stores make up roughly 60 percent of all groceries in the southern half of the state.

The strike took a new turn Nov. 24, when striking clerks were scheduled to start picketing distribution centers that are operated by the grocery chains and that supply the stores under strike. Officials of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters told The Los Angeles Times the union’s members would not cross those picket lines. Teamsters not only drive some of the trucks supplying the distribution centers, they also work in the centers.

The strike, like many recently in the retail grocery industry, centers on health care benefits. The workers are attempting to protect their current benefits, while the stores say workers must pay a portion of the costs to allow the companies to remain competitive with non-union outlets such as Wal-Mart.

Meanwhile, union officials say they are calling for a “summit” of locals from across the United States and Canada in an attempt to mobilize the organizations entire 1.4 million membership in support of the strike action, The Associated Press reported.