Negotiators for the 14 San Francisco hotels locked in a dispute with employees presented the hotel workers' union with a revised contract proposal Tuesday, garnering a tepid reaction.

The proposal would lower co-payments for doctor's office and emergency room visits, compared with a previous offer. The revised payment plan for office and ER visits is $10 and $20 respectively, compared with payments of $15 and $75 in an earlier proposal.

The negotiators for the employer group, which represents the 14 hotels, and for Local 2 of the hotel workers' union met Tuesday for the first time since Feb. 14.

Mike Casey, the president of Local 2, said, "We waited for over 100 days for them to move in two relatively insignificant areas, and they're certainly not core issues. It's much hoopla about nothing.''

Steve Trent, the spokesman for the hotel group, said the offer was made "in an effort to reach a settlement that provides hotel employees with a secure, long-term contract.''

Trent criticized the union's national agenda in contract talks in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., saying the union has wanted to organize new hotel workers and contracts that expire in 2006, putting them in a cycle with others in major cities and Hawaii.

He said the hotels believe "these issues are not relevant to heavily unionized San Francisco and are not worth postponing a contract settlement.''

The hotels prefer a four-year contract.

The next talks are planned for June 8.