Los Angeles religious leaders and laity are lending a hand in the city's latest labor dispute between hotel workers and their employers.

When hotel union workers voted on the latest contract offer by hotel employers July 1, religious leaders and laity --- Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim --- served as independent observers of the voting process and counted the hotel workers' votes. The voting took place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Conference Center in downtown Los Angeles.

"We wanted to encourage workers to vote their conscience," said Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice.

Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union leaders said more than 2,000 workers, or 92 percent of those who voted, rejected the hotels' latest contract offer.

Claretian Father Richard Estrada, one of the vote counters, said the dispute offers parishes an opportunity to organize small groups after the Sunday Masses to listen to workers' stories and ask questions.

A key sticking point between workers and hotel employers is the length of a new contract. Employers want a five-year contract, but workers want a two-year contract to line themselves up with ten other cities and leverage their strength to negotiate with big corporations.

"Negotiating city by city is like a duck sitting in a pond. They can pick us off one by one," said Donald Wilson, banquet chef and saucier at the Westin Century Plaza for 26 years and a union steward for 12. "We have the right to bargain nationally."

Hotel negotiators said a five-year contract is a must. "If we got the length of the contract out of the way, we'd be talking about the issues," Tim Loughman, general director of the Plaza and St. Regis hotels, told the Los Angeles Times.

The other issues include better wages, benefits and pensions and more reasonable workloads.

Aida Marmol, a housekeeper at the Westin Bonaventure for 14 years but now on disability, said she injured her back and knees trying to keep up with the increased workload of cleaning luxury rooms.

"You go running not knowing how you will finish," said Marmol, 53, a parishioner at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Los Angeles. "There's no time to take a break."

Maria Elena Durazo, president of the union's Local 11, added that a rebound in tourism should also benefit the workers who want wages at parity with what the same hotel chains in other large cities pay.

"Why should Los Angeles workers be at the bottom of the workforce?" asked Durazo. "We have to make these good middle class jobs."

The nine hotels involved in the dispute are Westin Bonaventure, Hyatt Regency Los Angeles, Hyatt West Hollywood, Millennium Biltmore, Sheraton Universal, Westin Century Plaza, St. Regis, Wilshire Grand and Regent Beverly Wilshire.

Hoping to pressure the union to drop their demands for a two-year contract, the hotels recently began requiring union workers to pay $10 a week on their health insurance premiums for the first time.

Workers said they are not planning a strike, but following rejection of the contract offer, Durazo said that workers will engage in demonstrations, marches and direct communication with hotel customers.