Hotel union, Penn Tower reach contract deal

The agreement averted a midnight strike deadline set by a union representing 80 Penn Tower employees. The clock struck midnight at the Penn Tower Hotel this morning -- and nothing happened. Meeting hours before a midnight strike deadline, hotel management and officials for the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union Local 274 reached an agreement on a new three-year contract for 80 hotel employees. Housekeeping, food and beverage, bellhop and banquet staffs are among those represented by the union. Management, security and front-desk staff would not have been involved. The previous contract had expired September 30, and an extension had been scheduled to expire at midnight tonight. Indeed, union officials had advised their members that come midnight, union members would be on strike. But by about 8 p.m., the word was out among the hotel's night-shift employees: "They just came and say, hey, the strike is off," said Al Dainiels, a bell captain. "Its going to be life as normal, I guess," said Tom Henley, a desk agent. The preservation of "life as normal" resulted from an agreement whose terms remain unclear. Pat Coughlin, the local's president, said he could not comment on the terms of the agreement until he had briefed union members. He did note that the union is "happy with the agreement," which he described as similar to those with other area hotels. The union represents 3,700 workers at area hotels, restaurants and catering facilities. John Levicke, the manager of the hotel, could not be reached for comment last night. Any final agreement must be approved by the union's membership, who will meet to consider the proposed contract at union headquarters -- located at 12th and Vine streets in Center City -- sometime next week, Coughlin said. Penn's last bout of labor unrest also ended without a strike. A breakdown in collective bargaining between Penn and her operating engineers -- responsible for repair and maintenance of campus buildings -- made a strike seem inevitable in early June 1997. But the combination of aggressive mediation and a threat by U2 band members to cancel a scheduled performance at Franklin Field if they were asked to cross picket lines led to a settlement later that month. In another recent labor dispute, University Police worked without a contract for seven months from August 1996 through mid-March 1997. They are prevented by law from striking. Federally mediated negotiations helped eventually resolve that dispute.