Workers at seven major hotels in the Los Angeles area overwhelmingly ratified a new contract that expires next year along with agreements in at least five other major cities, union officials said Thursday.

Union officials sought to line up the expiration dates so they can press prominent chains such as Starwood, Hyatt and Hilton for wage and benefit gains on a national scale.

Agreements are also set to expire throughout 2006 in New York, Boston, Honolulu, Chicago and Toronto. Including Los Angeles and smaller markets, some 75,000 workers are covered by the deals.

Talks are also under way in San Francisco to win a contract that ends in 2006, but negotiations with 14 hotels have deadlocked.

In Los Angeles, about half of the roughly 2,500 bellmen, housekeepers and desk clerks voted Wednesday, with 98 percent of the ballots cast in favor of the contract, said Hilda Delgado, a spokeswoman for UNITE Here Local 11.

Housekeepers, who make up the bulk of the union employees, would see their wages rise from an average of $11.10 an hour to $11.75 an hour by next April 16.

The contract covers employees at the Hyatt West Hollywood, Westin Century Plaza, Sheraton Universal, Regent Beverly Wilshire, Westin Bonaventure, Millennium Biltmore and Wilshire Grand.

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