Workers may continue wildcat strikes against hotels.

Tensions between unionized hotel employees and nine Los Angeles hotels remained high last week even as the federal government's top negotiator managed to bring both sides together to resume negotiations.

Peter Hurtgen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, managed to avert a lockout that hotel owners had called for Aug. 12 in response to a wildcat strike staged by employees at the Westin Century Plaza and St. Regis hotels a day earlier.

Last week, the two sides--represented by the Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11, respectively--began mediated talks.

But neither side had budged from the key issue of the length of a new contract. The union wants a two-year deal so it can line up talks with large hotel groups nationwide, while the hotels want a five-year deal to replace the contract that expired April 15.

While union leaders stressed they have not even called for a strike vote and did not authorize the wildcat strike, they also warned that more demonstrations are expected--and hinted that more wildcat actions are possible.

"We don't know if (a wildcat strike) will happen again," said David Koff, a senior research analyst with Unite HERE, the union's international office. "The workers are clearly angry and upset. They are committed to doing whatever is necessary to win a fair and just contract."

As part of Hurtgen's entry into the talks, the union agreed not to demonstrate on hotel grounds. But the agreement does not preclude workers from creating commotion near the hotels--and in plain view of would-be guests.

On Aug. 13, a downtown Los Angeles demonstration staged by the union near the Westin Bonaventure Hotel tied up traffic for several hours. Further demonstrations are expected.

"We agreed not to demonstrate in front of the hotel or inside the hotel," said Hilda Delgado, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, which is supporting HERE. "But that does not restrict workers from demonstrating anywhere else in the city. They can demonstrate on the next street (over) from the hotels."

Besides the St. Regis, Century Plaza and Bonaventure--all run by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.--the nine hotels making up the employers' council include the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles, Hyatt West Hollywood, Millennium Biltmore, Regent Beverly Wilshire, Sheraton Universal, and Wilshire Grand hotels.

They employ 2,900 unionized hotel workers belonging to HERE.

A lockout was nearly triggered on Aug. 12, when workers at the Westin Century Plaza and nearby St. Regis hotels staged a sit-in. When management ordered them to go back to work or go home, the workers did neither--instead staging a large demonstration outside the hotels.

Workers were demanding to know why they were charged $10 per week for health insurance benefits in June even though they did not formally reject the hotels' last-and-final contract offer until July 1.

The hotels responded by ordering a lockout of all nine hotels--keeping in compliance with a mutual aid agreement that dictates a strike against one hotel is a strike against all of them.

The lockout was rescinded after the union agreed to keep demonstrations away from the hotels.

Hurtgen's intervention came just days before HERE contracts in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. expired.

"There was a sense of urgency in them wanting the director to assist them," said John Arnold, spokesman for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. "Both sides sensed that they were very far apart and wanted additional help in resolving their differences."

If talks break down again, it could set the stage for a multi-city strike affecting several major hotel chains that have operations in at least two of the three cities.

"(A strike) is certainly the possibility," said Lisa van Krieken, partner with San Francisco-based Folger Levin & Kahn LLP, which is bargaining on behalf of the hotels. "There would be a defensive lockout. It would make negotiations more difficult."

In 2002, Hurtgen was effective in persuading the Pacific Maritime Association (the bargaining arm of the steamship lines) to end its lockout of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union after only 10 days and return to negotiations.

He was less successful with last year's grocery store workers strike and lockout, which lasted 141 days.

Scheduling problems also exist because Hurtgen has periodic commitments to be in Washington and speaking engagements elsewhere, said Arnold.

In the event that talks break down and a job action occurs, the hotels have a taller-than-usual stack of applications from people ready to take the jobs. "Our goal is to avoid a lockout or a strike," said van Krieken. "(But) the hotels are prepared to operate.