LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Thousands of hotel workers in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and San Francisco are prepared to strike in a concerted attempt to pressure employers into signing contracts that could significantly boost union clout.þþIn Los Angeles, 3,000 housekeepers, bellmen and other workers at nine prominent hotels were expected to authorize a strike, but no date has been set for a walkout. The hotel workers voted Monday and results of the strike vote were expected to be released Tuesday morning.þþBesides the usual issues over 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.þþ``That would level the playing field,'' said Donald Wilson, a banquet chef and shop steward at the Century Plaza. ``Our goal is to get into the middle class, to break in.''þþIn Washington, about 94 percent of 2,100 workers voted Monday to authorize a strike, said John Boardman, executive secretary and treasurer for the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C. The labor contract covering workers at 14 hotels expires Wednesday and negotiations continue.þþIn San Francisco, about 4,000 hotel workers were expected to vote Tuesday in favor of authorizing a strike, said union spokeswoman Valerie Lapin.þþHotel operators in Los Angeles have been in testy negotiations with the union, Unite Here Local 11, for months and oppose a contract that would require them to start talks again so soon.þþ``We don't want to do this again in 18 months,'' because of the expense and difficulty of the negotiations, said Fred Muir, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council.þþThe hotels are prepared to operate if there is a strike, Muir said.þ
Source: NY Times
