San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Friday he expects the hotel labor dispute in the city to be over in a matter of weeks, not months, but not unless the hotel operators show a willingness to negotiate in earnest with the union representing workers.

He said the union has presented the hotel operators a series of contract proposals. "They're waiting for a response back from the hotels,'' Newsom said. "The hotels have not delivered a response. We're encouraging them to do so.''

The two sides did agree to Newsom's request for a meeting today, with a federal mediator present. This is not a negotiating session, and the two sides may not be in the same room simultaneously, but the two groups have agreed to meet with Newsom for a status report on the negotiations, which thus far have proven fruitless.

The San Francisco mayor made his comments Friday at an economic forum that featured Newsom and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. The event, attended by nearly 1,000 representatives from Bay Area businesses and sponsored by the San Francisco Business Times, was originally scheduled at the Hilton Hotel in downtown San Francisco.

The sponsor decided weeks ago to move the event to the Oakland Convention Center to ensure that Newsom would show up. The mayor is boycotting the Hilton and the 13 other hotels involved in the labor dispute until a settlement is reached.

The union has existing offers on the table, made in January, in which two- year, three-year and four-year plans are outlined. A contract expiring in 2006 would be much less expensive for employers, and would be in sync with a goal of the union, Unite Here Local 2, to have hotel workers' contracts on the same expiration cycle in six major cities plus Hawaii. That would enhance labor's bargaining position.

The hotels have rejected the two-year proposal, but technically, the three-year and four-year proposals are still on the table -- although much more costly.

In the union's two-year plan, the net cost increase to employers is 2.8 percent in the first year and 2.9 percent in the second year. For a three-year contract, the increased costs for employers would be 5.7 percent in the first year and 5.9 percent in each of the next two years. A four-year contract would raise the cost 6.1 percent in each of the third and fourth years.

Speaking for the hotels, Steve Trent, general manager of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, said a counterproposal is owed, but the union has given no dates for bargaining to resume. The last session was on Feb. 14. "We cannot negotiate in earnest if we do not have bargaining dates,'' Trent said.

The sides differ on the length of a contract, health, welfare and wages.

Newsom said one of his biggest frustrations is that the "hotel side has changed players'' since the talks broke down in winter. Three managers in the group of 14 hotels in the bargaining unit, called the Multi-Employer Group, have recently taken hotel jobs elsewhere: Matt Adams of the Hyatt Regency; Mark Huntley of the Fairmont; and Joe Burger of the St. Francis.

Newsom also defended himself against accusations from the business community that he hasn't done enough to resolve the dispute and that his boycott of the targeted hotels can be construed as siding with organized labor.

"I don't really matter that much, so when I don't show up at a hotel, conferences aren't leaving that hotel,'' he said. He also pointed out that hotel business is booming in San Francisco. "The sky hasn't fallen in,'' he said. "The world hasn't come to an end."

In a boycott organized by the union, members are telephoning groups that are booked or planning gatherings in San Francisco. The callers urge them not to use the 14 hotels involved in the dispute. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, among other groups, has assailed the boycott. Mike Casey, Local 2 president, said the union did not agree to drop the boycott when it accepted terms of a cooling-off period and is thus not engaged in bad-faith bargaining. "If we disarm, how do we get a contract?'' he asked.