L.A. Hotels, Union Returning to Table
Nine upscale Los Angeles hotels came close to locking out all their union workers Friday morning in retaliation for a wildcat strike, but later agreed to return to the bargaining table.
Talks, which have yielded little progress in three months, will resume Monday, this time mediated by Peter J. Hurtgen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the union and hotels said. Also at the table will be John Wilhelm, national president of the union, called Unite Here.
The drama underscored rising tensions in the contract battle between an ambitious hotel workers union and a powerful group of national hotel chains.
In a sign that tensions remained high, several hundred hotel workers staged a demonstration during the Friday evening commute that blocked traffic at a downtown Los Angeles intersection for about two hours. Several dozen workers and union officials were arrested.
Bargaining as the Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council, the nine hotels are the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles, Hyatt West Hollywood, Westin Century Plaza, St. Regis Hotel, Sheraton Universal, Wilshire Grand Hotel, Millennium Biltmore, Regent Beverly Wilshire and Westin Bonaventure. They employ about 2,900 union workers.
With 5,600 rooms, the hotels account for nearly 10% of the first-class lodging in Los Angeles County, said analyst Bruce Baltin of PKF Consulting.
"These are significant hotels," said Baltin, who tracks the regional industry. "A lockout would be a very big deal."
Adding to the tension: Contracts at highly unionized San Francisco hotels expire today, making a coordinated strike or lockout possible in both cities.
The Los Angeles contract expired June 1, with both sides adamantly far apart on the issue of contract length.
The union wants a two-year deal as part of its campaign to line up contracts across the country to expire in 2006. Union leaders say they need the clout to negotiate with the handful of national chains that now dominate the industry.
The hotels are pushing instead for a five-year pact. In June, the hotel council declared that until the union moves off of its two-year demand, negotiations are at an impasse.
Since then, each side has tried various ways to pressure the other. The hotels stopped collecting union dues, then started charging workers $10 a week for health insurance. In turn, the union has staged a series of disruptive demonstrations.
