With the hotel industry veering toward a possible lockout at the start of L.A.’s summer tourist season, mayor-elect and former union organizer Antonio Villaraigosa called hotel owner Peter Zen, not union officials, with an offer to mediate.

The deal that Villaraigosa brokered largely gave workers what they wanted. That would seem to bode well for the union cause, as the mayor-elect’s close political ally, Councilman Martin Ludlow, takes the helm of the county’s powerful labor federation.

But a closer look at Villaraigosa’s role, as well as recent developments in Sacramento, indicate that labor is not likely to have a stranglehold on City Hall come July 1. Nor will Villaraigosa come to labor’s aid every time there’s a dispute.

What’s more likely to happen is a testing of the waters, both by organized labor and Villaraigosa, who came to office with contributions from business supporters like Zen, who runs the Westin Bonaventure hotel and gave at least $7,000 through his business.

“Sure, labor may try to flex their muscles,” said Rusty Hammer, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “But the new mayor has reassured me he understands he has to keep in mind the larger interests of the city.”

What really happened, people involved in the negotiations say, is that Villaraigosa gave the hotels a chance to save face in a dispute they were about to lose.

Two of the nine hotels that originally were part of the nine-member bargaining council were sold, and three were ready to concede to the union’s main demand of lining up contracts that would expire in 2006.

The union, gambling that Zen might also drop opposition to synchronizing the contract expiration dates, struck the West Hollywood Hyatt hotel on June 9, forcing the remaining hotels to decide whether to lock out union workers.

In return for the hotel owners agreeing to a 2006 expiration date,

Villaraigosa got the union to concede on one point: the contracts would expire in the fourth quarter of 2006, not at mid-year when a raft of hotel contracts expire nationwide.

“He was very effective in bringing the two parties together,” said John Stoddard, general manager of the Wilshire Grand Hotel. “He was objective and understanding of both sides. A deal couldn’t have been done without him.”

Balancing act


Villaraigosa said he will try to balance his longstanding labor ties with the needs of business to forge a cohesive economic development strategy. “My job as a mayor is to be an honest broker. It’s not to represent one side or the other. It’s to bring the sides together,” he said.

Despite his mediation in the hotel dispute, as well as a strike two years ago against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Villaraigosa said he has no intention of stepping into every labor impasse.

“I can’t negotiate every strike. But certainly, as was the case here, where a lockout at seven hotels would have had a disastrous effect on the L.A.

economy as the tourist season was beginning, I had to get involved,” he said.

Other big-city mayors often intervene when a strike threatens to cripple a sector of the local economy. But the trust Villaraigosa has built with labor leaders gives him more flexibility to cut deals. And organized labor’s decision to support incumbent Mayor James Hahn during the election gives Villaraigosa room to maneuver.

During the next four months, organized labor will be preoccupied with fighting a slate of measures on the November ballot in the special election called last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. One measure would require unions to ask permission from their members each year to use their dues for political purposes; another would increase the time for teacher tenure to five years from the current two years. Yet another would put stricter spending caps on the state Legislature.

“Our agenda right now is fighting to protect the middle class in light of attacks from Arnold Schwarzenegger and (President) George Bush,” Ludlow said. “The more egregious the attacks on working families, the more aggressive labor will fight against that.”

More distractions


The County Federation of Labor may also be distracted by a conflict within the national labor movement that could come to a head next month. Five major unions Unite HERE, the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Laborers’ International Union have criticized the AFL-CIO for being too complacent and are pushing for reform. Four of the unions have threatened to pull out of labor’s umbrella organization.

The five unions make up more than half of the total membership of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, which also serves as the local chapter of the AFL-CIO. If they were to leave the nationwide body, the county federation would lose much of its financial and organizing base.

On top of this, Ludlow himself will need several months to adjust to his unexpected new role. While he has committed publicly to following the policies of the late Miguel Contreras, he will no doubt want to put his own stamp on the federation.

With so much attention focused elsewhere, few expect organized labor to push hard for labor-friendly measures at City Hall or to bring potential labor-management disputes to a head during the next few months.

But when the next significant dispute does surface, all eyes will be on Villaraigosa.

Nearly two years ago, as a board member of the MTA, he was a go-between for the bus mechanics and managers. While the extent of his mediation was the subject of dispute during the recent mayoral campaign, he did step forward when other MTA board members, including Hahn, did not.

“In situations where there’s a vested public interest in resolving a dispute, he has shown a willingness to step in and try to resolve it,” said Kent Wong, director of UCLA’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

Both Ludlow and Hammer said they still expected differences between business and labor to surface, citing areas like affordable housing set-asides and wages. But Hammer is optimistic, saying that he welcomes “a new level of activism from the mayor’s office,” and so is Ludlow.

“The thing that Antonio and I and Rusty Hammer have in common is that we all want to see the economy prosper and grow,” Ludlow said. “When you consider luring new jobs to the city, improving education, getting our freeways moving and bringing down crime rates, that’s enough for all three of us to chew on together.”