Employers agreed to end their lockout of workers at 14 San Francisco hotels and resume negotiations with UNITE HERE! Local 2, the union and management announced.

The agreement was reached Saturday with the help of San Francisco May Gavin Newsom, the parties said.

Local 2 members will return to their jobs starting this week, the union said. The union and the Multi-Employer group agreed to a 60-day cooling-off period during which the union agrees not to strike and the hotels agree not to lock out. Negotiations will continue in an attempt to settle the outstanding issues in the contract: medical benefits, pension contributions, retiree benefits, right to organize, wages, and contract term.

"The members of Local 2 stood strong against the employers' lockout," said Mike Casey, president of Local 2. "By returning to our jobs we can now negotiate a fair contract on a level playing field.

"On behalf of the members of Local 2, I would like to express our gratitude to the many people who have helped us in this fight so far - both here in San Francisco, across North America, and around the world."

The hotel lockout, which affected more than 4,000 workers, is ending at the following hotels. However, Local 2 continues to encourage people to boycott the facilities until a fair contract is reached. The hotels are: Argent Hotel, Crowne Plaza Union Square, Four Seasons, Fairmont, Grand Hyatt Union Square, Hilton San Francisco, Holiday Inn Civic Center, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Fisherman's Wharf, Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center, Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental, Omni Hotel, Sheraton Palace and Westin St. Francis.

The contract negotiations affect 8,000 union members at more than 60 hotels and motels amounting to more than 85 percent 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.

The end of the San Francisco hotel lockout was announced Saturday. More than 4,000 union workers had been kept out of their jobs for five weeks. Photos by David Bacon

Adapted from material on the UNITE-HERE website. For more information, visit www.unitehere.org