Strike Plans at Markets Put on Hold : Labor: Mediator persuades union leaders to go back to the bargaining table if workers reject a pact now up for vote.

A federal mediator overseeing the Southern California supermarket contract talks persuaded labor leaders on Wednesday to delay any strike until at least midnight Monday and to return to the bargaining table if a proposal currently up for rank-and-file approval is defeated.

About 73,000 retail clerks and 7,000 meat-cutters began voting Wednesday on a contract offer from negotiators representing 800 Ralphs, Vons, Lucky, Stater Brothers, Albertson’s and Alpha Beta markets. Voting will run through tonight.

If the contract is rejected, as recommended Tuesday by presidents of 10 United Food and Commercial Workers locals, a new round of negotiations will begin on Friday.

The unions had threatened Tuesday to strike as early as midnight tonight. But mediator Frank Allen, who has been monitoring food-industry contract talks for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service for 20 years, persuaded the union to delay a strike vote in the interest of further bargaining.

Both sides have refused to talk about the terms of the proposed three-year contract. But sources familiar with the offer said it contains annual raises of between 3% and 4%. Union officials say the proposal calls for unacceptable cuts in health benefits and in job security issues, allowing lower-paid workers to do jobs now performed by higher-paid ones. Market negotiators say changes are necessary to keep supermarkets competitive.

“I don’t feel they should take things away we’ve already won,” said Maryella Peralta, 51, a worker in a delicatessen at a Lucky store in Bellflower, after she voted against the contract at a meeting called by UFCW Local 324 in Buena Park. “We’re not asking for more than the cost of living.”

Another union member, Ike Marshell, 38, who works at an Alpha Beta store in Cerritos, complained that workers were being manipulated by the union to strengthen its bargaining position and that both sides were already committed to settling the contract without a strike. “Everybody you talk to at work doesn’t want to strike,” he said.

Some of the UFCW locals make sure of a high turnout by levying $25 fines against any member who does not show up to cast a ballot on the contract.

Times staff writer Lucy Chabot contributed to this story.