Mayor Pleads for Hotel Accord

Citing the need to preserve the city’s fragile tourism industry recovery, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn on Friday urged union hotel workers and nine prominent local hotels to go back to the bargaining table and reach a contract agreement.

“I don’t want to see this impasse stop or reverse this positive momentum,” Hahn said, noting that several key segments of the city’s tourism sector had almost climbed back to levels before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the East Coast. He said the hotel industry pumped nearly $11 billion into the area’s economy from the spending of about 22 million visitors.

Although no plans for a strike or lockout have been indicated, Hahn’s plea comes as the dispute grows increasingly tense. On Friday, the hotels began requiring union workers to pay part of their health insurance premiums for the first time.

That move came after members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union rejected the hotels’ latest contract offer Thursday. Union leaders said Friday that the vote was 92% for rejection.

The two sides haven’t held talks in nearly two weeks after the hotels declared an impasse. The major point of contention is the contract length. The union wants a two-year deal that ends in 2006, part of a strategy to line up expiration dates in 10 major cities that year, giving the union more clout. The hotels want a five-year pact.

Hahn said he hoped that tourism statistics would soften both sides. For example, he said, the city’s hotel occupancy rate rose to 75% during the first four months of this year, compared with 62.5% a year earlier.

Maria Elena Durazo, president of the union’s Local 11, said her group was prepared to continue negotiations and had no plans for a strike. The union said it planned demonstrations next week.

The nine hotels are Sheraton Universal, Westin Bonaventure, Westin Century Plaza, Hyatt Regency Los Angeles, Hyatt West Hollywood, Millennium Biltmore, Regent Beverly Wilshire, St. Regis and Wilshire Grand.

No new talks were scheduled as of late Friday afternoon.