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Complaints Against Union Filed by Hotels

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Times Staff Writer

Hotel groups in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, mired in protracted contract disputes with the hotel workers union, each filed complaints last week alleging that the union has not bargained in good faith.

The complaints contend that the Unite Here union has not seriously considered the hotels’ “fair, reasonable and equitable” contract offers. Instead, the complaints said, the union has insisted on two-year deals that would expire along with pacts in other U.S. cities, giving the union greater national bargaining clout.

“We’re looking to make them come off of their stance of demanding a common contract expiration date in 2006,” said Lisa van Krieken, a negotiator for the Los Angeles Hotel Employers Council, which is bargaining for nine prominent Los Angeles-area hotels. “Our last two contracts with (Los Angeles) Local 11 have been six years long.”

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Stuart Fischoff, a professor of psychology at Cal State L.A. and a labor-management expert, said the hotels were trying to thwart a common tactic among big unions of negotiating nationally.

“They are trying to nip this in the bud,” Fischoff said.

A spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 11 said union leaders had no immediate comment because they had not received a copy of the local council’s complaint.

The complaints, filed Friday with the National Labor Relations Board, come as both sides prepare for a possible strike or lockout. Union members have authorized strikes in all three cities.

Van Krieken said the complaints were not designed to lay the groundwork for a lockout. The Los Angeles-area hotels -- Hyatt Regency Los Angeles, Hyatt West Hollywood, Millennium Biltmore, Regent Beverly Wilshire, Sheraton Universal, St. Regis, Westin Bonaventure, Westin Century Plaza and Wilshire Grand -- have agreed to lock out union workers under certain conditions.

Van Krieken said the three hotel groups were hoping the NLRB would consider the complaints on an expedited basis as one filing.

“Our goal is to force them back to the table and reach an agreement,” Van Krieken said.

Talks have been off and on since March. Federal mediator Peter Hurtgen, called in to jump-start negotiations, is away on separate business and no new talks have been scheduled.

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