Some key issues in Local 2's contract negotiations:

Health care: The members of Local 2 have fought to ensure that, for the long hours of hard work they contribute to the hotel industry, they are rewarded with the security of comprehensive health care for themselves and their families. This security is more important today than it ever has been: without the guarantee of affordable healthcare for their families, workers cannot do the quality jobs that keep the Bay Area’s economy going.

Respecting workers' rights to organize: Almost all hotels that have opened in San Francisco recently have agreed to respect workers' rights to join a union, under a free and fair process called card check/neutrality. Recent examples include the St. Regis, the Hotel Vitale, the Four Seasons, the Courtyard by Marriott, the Omni, and many others. As part of our negotiations, Local 2 is asking that workers have this same right in future -- when these corporations build or acquire a new hotel in San Francisco or San Mateo counties, workers rights should be protected by a card check/neutrality agreement.

Immigrant rights & fair hiring: Drawing on our work in organizing the 2003 Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride, our Union is committed to addressing comprehensive national immigration reform, and to protecting workers' civil rights on the job. As part of this commitment, Local 2 is proposing that employers join the Union in working for reform of America's immigration laws. Local 2 is further proposing that the hotels and the Union work together to make quality hotel jobs more accessible to San Francisco's African American community, and to ensure that hotels defend the rights of their immigrant workers.

Workload: Following September 11, the hotel industry responded to drops in tourism by laying off huge numbers of staff, including as many as one third of Local 2 members. This strategy was hugely successful for the hotel corporations: of the three biggest publicly-traded companies, not one lost money during 2001-02. But for hotel workers, the result was higher workloads and greater stress. Even now, as occupancy levels continue to rise, only a fraction of hotel workers have been brought back to work. This year, hotel workers are demanding that management be prepared to negotiate in good faith with their employees when workload levels get too high.