Seven major Los Angeles hotels have agreed to a new labor contract expiring in November 2006 that averts a threatened lock-out, the hotels and the Unite Here union said on Saturday.

Labor contracts covering some 2,800 Los Angeles hotel workers expired April 2004 and the union was seeking a deal that would expire next year in order to line up with contracts in several other major U.S. cities, but the group of seven Los Angeles hotels had opposed a 2006 deal.

The expiration date means the Los Angeles hotels will be the last throughout the country to see labor contracts expire next year, the Los Angeles Hotel Employer's Council said in a statement. An April 2006 pact would have put them first.

"The hotel council is pleased to have reached an accord with Local 11 that guarantees labor peace in Los Angeles through the end of 2006," Brian Fitzgerald, president of the hotels negotiating council, said in a statement.

The new contract includes a 5.8 percent wage increase over 31 months as well as continued full health benefits and other provisions, the hotels council said.

The two sides said the deal came early Saturday after Los Angeles mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa intervened to call for a settlement in the 14-month standoff.

The union on Thursday began a two-week strike against the Hyatt West Hollywood, which prompted the hotels council to threaten a lock-out starting on Saturday.

The tentative contract still needs to be ratified by union members and members of the hotel council.

Both sides are also working to resolve outstanding charges of unfair labor practices.

In addition to the Hyatt West Hollywood, the other Employer's Council hotels are the Westin Bonaventure, Sheraton Universal, Regent Beverly Wilshire, Westin Century Plaza, Millennium Biltmore and Wilshire Grand.

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