Chants and pounding drums greeted guests and passers-by in front of the Starwood Palace Hotel Nov. 12 as striking hotel workers held their third and final day of protest over the failure to reach a negotiation between their union and hotel management.

Although it was the last day of picketing in front of the Palace, three-day strikes are expected to continue at different hotels throughout the city until an agreement is reached.

On Nov. 18, 650 Westin St. Francis employees walked off the job and began the third temporary strike.

The protest was the second strike since Unite Here! Local 2 Union authorized a strike Oct. 22 due to the inability to reach a negotiation with hotels about how to pay for health care.

Local 2 represents about 9,000 room cleaners, bellhops, cooks, dishwashers, servers and bartenders at 62 hotels, any of which could face a strike if an agreement is not reached.

"We're tired, but the adrenaline is up and we're making our point," Elena Duran, a server for 18 years at the Palace, said. "We need to show that we care for our benefits."

In a city that has already hung white snowflakes on lampposts downtown, a strike against hotels could be detrimental to San Francisco's $8.5 billion tourism industry this holiday season. When the union and hotels couldn't reach a contract negotiation in 2004, nearly two years of strikes, boycotts and a 53-day lockout ensued.

The hotels are using the recession as a reason to refrain from improving their employees' health care coverage, although health care costs are rising and the hotels are still profiting, according to Riddhi Mehta, press coordinator for Local 2.

Representatives from the Palace management were unavailable for comment at publication.

"This year is supposed to be a recession year, yet they're still making a profit," Mehta said. "It might not be as much as before, but it's still millions, and yet our members are struggling to survive."

"Health care costs are continuing to increase, but the hotels only want to pay a portion of that increase," Mehta added.

Hospitality workers argue that they simply cannot take on the burden of paying for increased health care costs, especially at a time when hotels are cutting back their hours and laying off employees.

"I have three children, two who are in college, and if I have to pay health care, I won't be able to," Duran said.

At the Palace, longtime employee Zenaida Jones said that the picket was driving guests away from the hotel.

"We try to be loud and disturb the people upstairs," Jones said. "And some (guests) sympathize when they see us and don't check in."

Mehta said that hotels whose management "put the worst proposals on the table" would be picketed in the future.

Mario Porras, a bartender at the Holiday Inn, said that hotel management is on edge over which hotel will be picketed next.

"All the managers slept in the hotel last night because they thought we were going to strike," Porras said.