Hotels Sweeten Deal, but Rejection Likely

Eight prominent Los Angeles-area hotels Monday sweetened their labor contract offer, but a union official said workers would probably reject the deal because of its expiration date.

The hotels said they offered a $2.50 hourly raise over four years and a $1,000 signing bonus to full-time workers who don’t collect tips. That would apply mainly to housekeepers, the largest group in the union local.

Brian Fitzgerald, president of the Los Angeles Hotel Employer’s Council, which is negotiating for the eight hotels, said in a statement that the proposal was superior to deals the union recently made with the Beverly Hilton and other smaller hotels.

“This is a substantial offer, giving employees an unprecedented pay and benefits package,” Fitzgerald said.

The contracts with the smaller hotels expire next year -- a key demand of the Unite Here union. And in their sweetened offer, the eight larger council hotels continued to reject the union’s demand for a 2006 contract expiration.

The union is trying to line up contracts in major cities across the country to expire at the same time to gain bargaining clout with national hotel chains. Contracts in New York, Boston and Chicago are already set to expire next year, and San Francisco hotels are in a standoff similar to the one in Los Angeles.

Unite Here Local 11 Secretary-Treasurer Tom Walsh said a four-year contract offer wouldn’t get far here. “This tells me two things,” he said. “First, they can afford a better economic package. Second, and more importantly, they’re still not listening to us.”

Walsh said the proposal probably would not be put to a vote because members already showed strong support for the 2006 expiration date through a strike vote, petition drive and a vote rejecting an earlier contract proposal.

The two sides have been negotiating since April 2004.

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