Posted on: Wednesday, September 15, 2004
California hotels may face strike
By Alex Veiga
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The threat of a strike by bellmen, housekeepers and other Southern California hotel employees loomed larger today, as an overwhelming majority of the workers gave their leaders a green light to call a walkout.
Associated Press 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 yesterday.
"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 Hawai'i — 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.
Meanwhile, thousands of casino-hotel workers in Las Vegas planned to stay on the job yesterday despite the expiration of their contract, putting off a strike as negotiations continued.
Bartenders, cocktail servers and other employees belonging to the 17,000-member Local 54 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union were to continue working through the midnight expiration of their existing five-year contract.
"We'll stay on the job," said Chris Magoulas, a spokesman for Local 54.
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.
Esteban Orellana looks for his name among cards of support sent to hotel workers gathered at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The workers voted yesterday to authorize a strike.
