Unite Here locals in L.A., San Francisco and Washington have yet to resolve one key issue with hotel owners: two-year contracts that would expire at the same time as those in several other cities around the country. However, instead of striking to get what they want, union members may simply decide to work without contracts until 2006. Representatives for the hotels say that if the union attempts this ?backdoor? strategy to achieving their 2006 goal, they will be forced to consider a lockout.
See "Union May Try to Avoid Strike Against Hotels", Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2004