Los Angeles mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa has successfully mediated a settlement between hotel workers and their employers, which ends a 14-month standoff and provides significant bargaining leverage for hotel workers' unions. By arranging for the proposed new contract to expire in November 2006, the Los Angeles hotel workers have aligned their expiration dates with those in other cities, allowing unions to threaten a crippling nationwide strike were future negotiations to stall. The deal has yet to be ratified by union members or hotel chains.
See "Union, Hotels Avert Strike, Lockout", John O'Dell, Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2005