In California, the Ralphs supermarket chain was indicted Thursday on charges it hired workers under false names and violated other labor laws during a workers’ strike in 2003. The indictment alleges Ralphs engaged in a : “company-wide course of criminal conduct involving the hiring of locked-out employees under false names, Social Security numbers and documentation.” The grocery chain locked out its workers in October 2003 after the Southern California grocery workers union voted to strike against Safeway’s Vons and Pavilions chains. Ralphs had been negotiating alongside Safeway. A Ralphs spokesperson acknowledged the company committed the violations, but said the actions were taken by individual managers and did not the result from company policy.