The tentative three-year agreement, which must be ratified by the unions, was reached on Jan. 23, just one day before the extension was to expire. A major sticking point between the parties was healthcare costs. Though workers will see some increase in health plan co-payments, they will not be paying a premium for coverage as had been proposed by the stores. The contract affects Safeway, Albertsons and Ralph's grocery chains.

"For example, workers paid $6 or $12 for prescriptions and now it will be $10 and $20," said Ron Lind, spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Bay Area Coalition.

Other benefits are structured in a similar manner so that instead of having two tiers, there will now be three, he said. The benefits are the same; it will just take workers longer to achieve all of them.

The workers' pay scale has been altered so that reaching the top will take longer but the proposed two-tier system that the unions opposed has been dropped.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Bay Area Coalition, a group representing eight unions and more than 30,000 workers, had plans to step up actions starting Jan. 25. Those activities have been canceled.

But public support in the area was believed to be strong.

Not typically known as a union stronghold town like cities such as Detroit or Philadelphia, where simmering labor strikes can find support among consumers willing to boycott employers on the other side of the bargaining table, the San Jose City Council is very labor friendly, and even conservative-leaning Almaden Valley has its share of empathetic residents.

"I wouldn't walk through a picket line," said Peggy Guina.

Guina, an Almaden resident who had just finished shopping at Albertsons on Meridian Avenue, said she was unaware that the contracts had expired between grocery workers and Albertsons, Safeway, and Ralph's grocery stores in the Bay Area.

Rather than face striking workers, she said she would have shopped at nearby Trader Joe's, which was not involved in the contract negotiations.

Safeway shopper Jim Flynn said he also would have been inclined to avoid the stores if picketers were marching, and would have traveled the extra distance to PW Supermarket for his groceries.

Contracts expired Jan. 15 and an extension to Jan. 24 was given by the Bay Area Coalition.

Union workers gathered at organized rallies around the Bay Area last week where they passed out fliers and asked shoppers to sign cards pledging their support.

About 20 union members gathered at the Albertsons on Blossom Hill Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard to "educate" the customers on the issues the unions were facing and show the stores that they were serious.

Tony Alexander, representative for Local 428 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said that particular store was selected because it was centrally located to the union's region and because it is one of the busiest stores.

A source who asked to not be named said that Safeway managers were expecting no strike, and Ron Jensen, manager of PW Supermarket on Almaden Expressway, said he had not seen indicators of a strike like he had seen in the past. Stores such as PW Supermarket, Lunardi's and Cosentino's are on separate contracts from the larger chains such as Safeway and Albertsons and enjoy "sweetheart" deals allowing them to remain open in the event of a labor shutdown.

Jensen said he said he would have had several workers from the other stores, such as Safeway or Albertsons, come in to his store seeking employment in the event of a strike earlier in the process. But he said he didn't get any such requests.

Some union members had expressed concern about the possibility of striking, fearing the same results as last year's tumultuous grocery workers' strike in Southern California. Alexander said that the successfully ratified contracts such as the one signed by the union in Sacramento just a few weeks ago provided encouragement.

The striking workers in Southern California were hit hard in the final resolution of their dispute with employers when unions ended their lengthy work stoppage by giving in to steep health care benefit cuts. One Bay Area store manager said the Southern California union "may never make up" the difference between where the union wanted to be and where it ended.