Los Angeles Hyatt hotels operators voted to lock out 2,380 unionized workers after 120 employees at the Hyatt on Sunset Strip walked out among contract disputes, according to media reports.

The strike came just hours before a new contract offer from hotel operators was to expire Thursday. But hotel operators extended the deadline to midnight Saturday.

Unite HERE Local 11, which represents emplopyees at seven L.A.-area hotels, has been in contract negotiations since April 2004. Both sides are deadlocked on the length of a new contract. The union wants to align contract expiration dates throughout the country for 2006. This would let hotel workers leverage their numbers against hotel operators in future contract negotiations, giving the union more bargaining power.

The hotels have offered pay increases but also want a longer contract.

Thursday's strike also was in protest to the $650,000 in health-insurance co-payments that the hotels charged workers between July and February, and $1.5 million that the union says the hotel operators failed to pay into the employees' health-and-welfare fund.

The hotels began charging the workers $10 a week after contract negotiations deadlocked. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating whether the move was legal.

Hyatt hotels are operated by Chicago-based Global Hyatt Corporation, which owns the Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt brands.

More News About the Los Angeles Hotel Workers' Struggle for a Fair Contract >>