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Hotel workers press fight for contract

Published May 12, 2005 4:50 PM

Several hundred unionized hotel workers and labor supporters marched from Union Square to the Hilton San Francisco on May 3, where they held a sit-in. While chanting “What do we want? Contract!” 37 workers were arrested for “trespassing” on the lobby steps inside.

The 4,300 members of Local 2 UNITE HERE! have been working without a contract since August at 14 San Francisco hotels. The workers endured a lengthy lock-out when hotel owners retaliated for the union’s two-week strike. The lock-out ended last fall and a “cooling-off period” was called for a couple of months.

The hotels have not met with the union since Feb. 14 and significant differences remain regarding length of contract, health care, wages and pensions. Local 2 has asked people to boycott the 14 hotels and many groups have canceled their reservations and moved their meetings to other locations.

The hotel workers’ act of civil disobedience was meant to “demonstrate that we’re just as determined as we were last fall to get a fair contract,” said Lamoin Werlein-Jaen, vice-president of Local 2.

“In the upcoming weeks there will be more demonstrations, more protests and more action inside the hotels until they realize that their stalling is not going to dilute the determination to fight for a fair contract.”