L.A., Washington hotel workers authorize strikes

Alex Veiga

Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- The threat of a strike by bellmen, housekeepers and other Southern California hotel employees loomed larger Tuesday, as an overwhelming majority of the workers gave their leaders a green light to call a walkout.

About 75 percent of the roughly 3,000 employees, who have been working without a contract since June, voted Monday, with 83 percent choosing to authorize a strike, union spokesman Danny Feingold said Tuesday.

No date was set for a walkout.

The strategy -- part of an effort to pressure employers into signing contracts that could significantly boost union clout -- was emulated by 2,100 hotel workers in Washington, D.C., who also voted to authorize a strike, and in San Francisco, where about 4,000 workers were voting Tuesday.

"I feel that the risk is worth taking ... if it's going to come to us getting a fair contract," said Steven Whitlock, a housekeeping employee at the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles who voted in favor of authorizing a strike.

Besides the issues of wages, benefits and work load, the key demand for Los Angeles workers is a contract that would expire at the same time as those for hotel workers in six cities and Hawaii -- an expiration that employees said would give them more leverage at bargaining time.

"We believe that on our side, in order for us to have closer to an even playing field, we have to unite with hotel workers in other cities," said Maria Elena Durazo, president of UNITE HERE Local 11 in Los Angeles. "We are not trying to make it one single contract."

Contract talks in Los Angeles have been going on for weeks under the guidance of a federal mediator, but both sides remain far apart.

"We hope that there is not a strike," said Fred Muir, a spokesman for the nine-hotel Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council. "But if there is a strike, the hotels are prepared to stay open and take care of our clients."

Other locals also are seeking a contract that expires in April 2006, though the agreements are separate and details vary.

The labor contract covering workers at 14 Washington hotels expires today and negotiations continue.

In San Francisco, employees at 14 hotels have been working without a contract since Aug. 14, union spokeswoman Valerie Lapin said.