Workers at Downtown Hilton Get Job Warning : Labor: A stalemate over Hilton Corp.’s management contract with the Korean owners has employees fearing the worst.

The 575 employees at the Downtown Los Angeles Hilton & Towers have been warned that some of their jobs are in jeopardy due to a possible year-end management change at the landmark hotel.

The warning, which alarmed hotel workers and their union leaders, stems from a stalemate in talks between Hilton Hotels Corp., which manages the hotel, and a unit of the Hanjin Group, a South Korean conglomerate that has owned the facility since 1989.

Hilton’s current contract to run the hotel expires Jan. 1, and if no new agreement is reached by then, the company is expected to be replaced as the manager. That has raised job fears among workers, who technically work directly for Hilton and not for the hotel itself.

In an effort to calm worried workers, Hanjin issued a memo to employees late last week saying that “all or substantially all” current employees would be quickly rehired if a new management company is chosen. A company spokesman said Hanjin issued its warning of possible dismissals to satisfy a federal law requiring 60 days notice of business closings or major layoffs.

But labor leaders expressed fear that the possible management change threatens the hotel workers’ job security provided by their union contracts. They cited language in a Hanjin statement to employees indicating that if a new management company came in, the workers would have to go through a new probationary period, during which they could be fired.

Maria Elena Durazo, president of Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, said Hanjin was trying to reassure workers without giving them any real assurances.

“We won’t be fooled by empty gestures,” she said. “We want absolute guarantees.”

A spokesman for Hanjin, who refused to be identified by name, said the company wanted to give its new management firm “an opportunity to take a fresh look at everyone” working at the hotel. He added, however, that Hanjin “is not an anti-union company” and is not attempting to undermine the unions representing the hotel workers. No personnel changes will take place if Hilton is retained.

The concerns over the Hilton’s future come against a recent history of bitter labor disputes in Los Angeles’ hotel industry. One conflict involved another South Korean company, Koreana Co., that fought an unsuccessful 10-month battle to oust the hotel workers union from the Radisson Wilshire Plaza after buying it in late 1991.

Mary Rivera, a housekeeper at the Hilton who attended a Monday afternoon staff meeting concerning the possible management change, said she is trying to remain hopeful that she will still have a job in 1995.

“All we can do is hope and pray,” said Rivera, a 19-year hotel employee. “It gives you something to think about, especially those of us who were thinking about retirement.”

Times staff writer Lisa Respers contributed to this report.