Labor dispute at Santa Monica hotel will come to head Oct. 1.

In another showdown involving the resurgent local labor movement, a union decertification vote has been set for Oct. I in a long-running dispute involving Santa Monica's Miramar Sheraton Hotel and its union workers.

The vote has ramifications-far beyond the Miramar. As the only unionized hotel in Santa Monica, the Miramar and its dispute with the union have become a focus for a community coalition pushing for higher wage jobs.

And the vote could even have a national impact, of sons.

President Clinton has stayed at the Miramar 11 times since he was elected in 1992. But like any good Democrat, the president would likely switch to another union hotel if the Miramar becomes non-union.

"People are concerned about losing President Clinton here," said Kurt Petersen, lead organizer for Local 814 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union.

Hotel officials and the White House declined comment.

The decertification vote came about two years ago, when the requisite 30 percent of the hotel's 210 eligible workers signed a petition and sent it to the National Labor Relations Board, which administers union certification and decertification votes.

The vote was delayed until this fall while the NLRB reviewed allegations of unfair labor practices made by the union.

Among other things, union officials charged that the workers were forced into signing the petition for decertification by hotel management.

The union has also charged that its lead organizer, Delmy Falla, was fired without good cause and that the hotel refused to give light duty to a pregnant worker who happened to be a union activist.

More recently, union officials say the hotel is holding obligatory meetings every day for all employees, in an effort to persuade the workers not to vote for the union.

Although Miramar general manager William Worcester refused comment, the union recently disclosed a letter that Worcester is said to have distributed to workers.

In that letter, Worcester said the union was trying to deny workers the right to a secret ballot election.

"The union has fought to keep you from being able to vote in a secret ballot conducted by the government, but now you will be able to make your own decision in a secret ballot election," the letter said.

"We try to make the Miramar Hotel a good place for you to work and maybe there are reasons why there are no other union hotels in our area," the letter said.

On Sept. 3, union leaders and a group called called Santa Mohicans Allied for Responsible Tourism, or SMART, organized an unofficial "solidarity" vote to gauge union support among the 210 eligible workers.

Of the 156 participating workers, 146 voted to retain the union, while 10 voted against representation by the union.

The results of that election prompted union officials to ask the National Labor Relations Board to hold the decertification vote on Oct. 1 instead of later in the month, saying it wanted to reduce the amount of time available to management has to influence workers.