2 week strike called at 4 SF hotels

Members of Local 2 commenced a two week strike this morning at four San Francisco hotels. These hotels include:

* The Argent Hotel
* The Hilton San Francisco
* The Crowne Plaza Union Square
* The Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental

Workers will return to work on Wednesday, October 13th at 12:01a.m. A press conference with union leaders is scheduled for this afternoon.

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San Francisco hotel workers have been working without a union contract since August 14. Although 15 bargaining sessions have been held, little progress has been made in the areas of:

* Continued comprehensive health care for hotel workers and their families;
* Fully funded pensions;
* Fair wage increases;
* Stopping unscrupulous subcontractors from their abusive treatment of night porters;
* Ending excessive workloads which began after September 11 when the hotel industry responded to a drop in tourism by laying off huge numbers of staff but failed to re-hire workers since tourism rebounded;
* Ensuring union security by protecting the rights of workers in newly developed or acquired hotels to be represented by a union; and
* The ability to bargain again in 2006.

The contract negotiations affect 8,000 union members at more than 60 hotels and motels amounting to 85% of the industry in San Francisco. UNITE HERE! Local 2 represents cooks, room cleaners, bartenders, bellmen, food and beverage servers, bussers, housemen, PBX operators and dishwashers.