Negotiators for 14 major San Francisco hotels and the union representing their workers have agreed to resume bargaining on a new contract Tuesday, the first joint session since Feb. 14.

The two sides have been at odds since August, when a contract covering 4, 300 Unite Here Local 2 members expired, and negotiators were unable to reach agreement on health care coverage, wages, pensions and the length of a new contract.

A 10-week strike and lockout ended when Mayor Gavin Newsom brokered a cooling-off period in November. That period ended Jan. 23 but has been extended.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Multi-Employer Group, the bargaining agent for the 14 hotels, will offer its response to a union proposal presented in February.

Local business leaders said they were glad to see the two sides talking again.

"Any progress that can be made -- let's get on with it. We're losing meetings at these hotels with this sword over our heads,'' said Lee Blitch, the president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

The union has been organizing boycotts of the 14 hotels, contacting meeting planners to urge them not to patronize the facilities. Some conferences have been moved from San Francisco, costing millions of dollars in hospitality industry spending.

On Tuesday, Business for Social Responsibility, a San Francisco group that helps companies leverage corporate ethical behavior, said it's moving its 2005 meeting in November from the San Francisco Hilton to the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C., because of the dispute.

Meanwhile, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, Pete Sears, the general manager, said Tuesday there will be a loss of $350,000 in rooms, food and beverages from the cancellation of a lawyers' group meeting.

"It will be a hole in our June that might otherwise be full,'' he said.

On Feb. 14, in their last bargaining session, the hotel workers' union submitted a wish list for contracts that expire in 2006, 2007 or 2008.

"I do not anticipate huge movement," said Local 2 President Mike Casey about the Tuesday bargaining session. "But who knows? They could be having a change of heart as they are looking at the summer season approaching.''

Steve Trent, a spokesman for the coalition of hotels and managing partner of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, said management is ready to talk.

"The (employer group) is focused on securing a great contract for its employees that includes higher wages, comprehensive health insurance, improved pension benefits and long-term security,'' he said.

In the San Francisco negotiations and similar ones in Los Angeles and Washington, the union argued for a contract that would expire in 2006, putting it in sync with the hotel workers' unions in other major cities and Hawaii, enhancing labor's multicity bargaining position.

That's clearly still the union goal. In Los Angeles last week, Local 11 informally rejected a contract proposal from a group of eight hotels that included a $1,000 signing bonus for non-tipped employees and a $500 signing bonus for tipped employees, as well as wage increases.

"They seem to have found some money our members deserve, but more important, it does not include what we told them we need -- the 2006 expiration,'' said Tom Walsh, secretary-treasurer of Local 11. "That means they are still not listening to us. We feel strongly that the Los Angeles hotel workers cannot be isolated from the rest of the unionized hotel workers in North America.''

Hotel group spokesman Fred Muir said, "If they (the union) are saying they have no intention of accepting anything other than a contract expiring in '06, you have to wonder if they have been bargaining in good faith the past year.''

In San Francisco, Local 2 has asked for a wage increase, but also indicated that a priority is having the employers agree to allowing unions to represent workers who sign cards, a process called card-check neutrality. Many employers prefer a process administered by the National Labor Relations Board.