Strike hobbles the Mark

Nob Hill hotel closes view lounge to nonguests

The Mark Hopkins hotel, San Francisco's Nob Hill landmark, remained strike-bound Sunday, one month after some 200 of its union workers walked off the job in a contract dispute.

The strike by Local 2 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union has forced hotel management to restrict its famed view lounge to guests only and to curtail other services.

In a letter to guests, Mark Hopkins general manager Sandor J. Stangl said that negotiations on a new contract "have reached an impasse." A union-management meeting Oct. 29 with a federal mediator and Congressman Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, proved fruitless.

Local 2 representative Lisa Jaicks said that "90 percent of our people are still out" and that a union boycott campaign has caused the cancellation of several multiple-room reservations, including the NAACP, Hewlett-Packard, Shaklee and IBM.

Sixteen of San Francisco's major tourist hotels have signed new contracts with Local 2. The Mark has been insisting on language that would give it more flexibility in staffing. The union contends that the hotel's proposals mean job cuts and work speedups.

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