Workers at five Los Angeles hotels vote to authorize a strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7172656

The Associated Press
Article Launched: 10/13/2007 08:50:22 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES—Workers at five Los Angeles area hotels were ready to walk off the job at any time after voting to authorize a strike, their union announced Saturday.

About 81 percent of the employees at the Wilshire Plaza Hotel, Sportsmen Lodge Hotel, Holiday Inn Downtown Los Angeles, the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica and the Manhattan Beach Marriott voted to approve a strike, according to a statement from Unite Here Local 11.

The workers have been employed under an expired contract since last year.

Thousands of workers at more than a dozen other Los Angeles area hotels have ratified new union contracts within the past year.

The new contracts include wage increases of $2.30 an hour over three years for non-tipped employees, maintenance of free family health insurance and changes to the housekeeper workload.

A spokesperson from the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, which represents hotel owners, was not immediately available for comment on Saturday.

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