SF Hotels Refuse to End Labor Lockout

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Facing a deadline and an ultimatum from San Francisco's mayor, the operators of 14 hotels at the center of a protracted labor dispute refused Tuesday to end their four-week lockout of unionized employees while contract negotiations proceed.

"We respectfully decline the mayor's request for a 90-day cooling off period," Cornell Fowler, a spokesman for the hotel operators, said after they delivered their message to Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Newsom on Monday threatened to call for a boycott of the hotels if they didn't agree to his request for the cooling off period that would have allowed locked out workers to return to their jobs while talks on the contract affecting room cleaners, bellmen, cooks and others continue.

Expressing frustration that the dispute was tarnishing the city's image and hurting its workers, Newsom said he would join hotel employees workers on their noisy picket lines and encourage mayors in other cities to play hardball with the properties' corporate owners.

A spokesman said the mayor would make good on his angry vow by showing up at the posh St. Francis Hotel on Tuesday afternoon.