Dec. 27, 2005 - The president of the Boston hotel and restaurant workers union, Janice Loux, said she is "cautiously optimistic" she will reach agreements with two new luxury hotel operators in Boston that could lead to the employment of hundreds of union workers.

"My negotiations with InterContinental are, I think, moving forward," Loux said. "I think things have taken a positive turn."

Loux cautioned that she is "still engaged in a major boycott effort" directed at the InterContinental Boston hotel and the luxury condos, both being built at 500 Atlantic Ave. But, she said, "I'm encouraged. I'm cautiously optimistic."

She declared a boycott in June, though the protest has not affected construction of the shiny mirrored building on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

Both the InterContinental Boston hotel, scheduled to open next fall, and the Mandarin Oriental Boston, under construction on Boylston Street near the Prudential Center, have followed a pattern of new hotel developers or operators and resisted making a commitment to hire only union workers.

An InterContinental executive confirmed that discussions between the hotel and Unite Here, a national union that includes hotel and restaurant workers, resumed early this month, for the first time since Oct. 12.

"The hotel's intention is to continue good-faith discussions with the union in early January 2006," said Charlotte Wood, senior manager for corporate communications for InterContinental Hotels Group, based in Atlanta.

Wood said the hotel and union have "a better understanding of each other's interests," adding that the company is "committed to treating its employees with dignity and respect."

The Mandarin Oriental is two years away from opening. But Loux is insisting that workers there also be allowed to choose whether to join the union under her terms. No one from Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, of Hong Kong, could be reached for comment. The hotel is being developed by CWB Boylston LLC.

Loux said she is in talks with the management of Mandarin Oriental hotels. She again said she was "cautiously optimistic" but said the situation is "not quite in as good shape as InterContinental," from the union's point of view.

"I am the eternal optimist," Loux said.

Loux said that since she became president of the union in 1997, she has been successful in almost every case in securing at least a so-called card-check neutrality agreement. That sets up rules that allow workers to organize and hold a vote on whether they want to affiliate with her union, Boston Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union, Local 26.

Under the agreement, the owner or operator of a hotel agrees to stand aside as the union collects signatures of workers accepting union representation, avoiding an open conflict.

"I've gotten every major hotel developer in the city," she said. Loux cited Nine Zero on Tremont Street, the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common, Jurys Boston in the Back Bay, Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square, and the Westin Boston Waterfront, the convention center headquarters hotel in South Boston that is under construction.

Employees at the Embassy Suites Boston hotel at Logan Airport in East Boston, which opened in 2003, are not members of the union, despite Loux's efforts. Some smaller hotels also are nonunion, and in at least one case the hotel workers are organized with Local 26, but restaurant workers are not.

Loux said she signed an agreement about a month ago with the operator of the Regent Boston hotel being built at Battery Wharf in the North End.

Loux has had strong backing from City Hall, and she has been prominent in union circles as a stalwart supporter of Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

Extell Development Co., the company building the Intercontinental hotel and Residences at the InterContinental, has been fighting three battles at once as it readies for opening. In addition to the union tiff, Extell recently concluded a monthslong disagreement with pedestrian advocates over the shape of the sidewalk in front of the hotel.

Extell filed a suit, still unresolved, against Chicago-based Equity Office Properties, owners of the InterContinental's next-door neighbor, Russia Wharf. Equity Office plans to redevelop the three old buildings at Russia Wharf and erect at 31-story tower on top.

Extell executives say they are seeking assurances that construction will not disrupt the operations of its new complex and the peace of future residents, who have in some cases signed agreements to pay more than $1 million for a condo.

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