Unionised workers at Kroger’s Indiana supermarkets have voted to reject a new five-year contract offer because of health care issues.

Kroger wants to cap the amount it contributes toward workers’ health care premiums to save money and enable it to better compete with US retail giant Wal-Mart, reported Dow Jones International News.

Similar Kroger contract disputes have led to strikes in California, Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio.

Although a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers union said it was too early to talk about a possible strike in Indiana, Kroger placed an advertisement in the local press seeking temporary workers.

The Indiana workers’ current contract expires on 1 November.