Dec. 2--As Boston labor and hotel representatives negotiated a last-minute contract deal in the wee hours of yesterday morning, union leaders across the country breathed a sigh of relief. 

The pact between 3,000 unionized hotel workers and nine hotel companies not only averted a strike but also became the first major contract agreement in the beleaguered hospitality industry since Sept. 11. 

"Enormous attention was paid to this contract," said John Wilhelm, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union in Washington. "All of our leaders were intensely interested in whether [the local union] would have to take a bad contract. And it didn't." 

The two sides struck a deal after the hotel operators, including Boston Park Plaza Hotel and the Lenox Hotel, agreed to toss out demands to assign workers fewer than eight hours per shift. 

Under the new agreements, union workers would be permitted to organize any hotels developed by Hilton, Sheraton, and other major chains covered in the agreement. Those hotels would have to provide employee lists to the union, too. 

"What that means is that if the hotels acquire properties or merge with other properties, we have the right to go in and sign up those workers," said Janice Loux, president of Local 26, which led the negotiations for its Boston workers. 

The deal also would provide union employees with an extra paid personal day off and an increase in compensation averaging 5 percent annually in the five years covered by the contract. Room attendants, who represent the majority of hotel workers, immediately would see their hourly pay rise from $11.53 to $12.03. 

If ratified by union members this week, the contract would be effective as of yesterday. The union has not yet set a firm time and place for the vote, Loux said. 

With their contract due to expire on Nov. 30, local union workers voted last month to authorize a strike. The negotiations at the Sheraton Boston Hotel drew union leaders from as far away as Honolulu, where a hotel-labor contract is set to expire in February. 

Those negotiations will be monitored closely because the Hawaiian Islands have been especially hard hit by the steep decline in air traffic. 

"Hawaii has the double whammy," Wilhelm said. "Not only do they depend on plane traffic, but about half of their business comes from Asia. And Asians are just not coming to the [United States]." 

While many major cities and attractions have been affected by the downturn, hotels in Boston, New York, and Washington have been among the worst performers, he said. Wilhelm called the hospitality industry in San Francisco "a disaster," and Las Vegas, "catastrophic." 

Even before Sept. 11, hotel rates and bookings were falling across the country as business travel slowed in response to the economic slump. But the attacks led to a precipitous drop in air traffic that quickly rippled through the travel industry. 

About one-third of the national hotel and restaurant union's 300,000 members have been laid off in the last 2 1/2 months. 

In New York, about 5,000 union workers lost their jobs through layoffs and the destruction of the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel. 

In Boston, about a third of the local union's members have lost their jobs. And at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, employees have seen their hours scaled back as entire floors remained void of guests, said Earleen Walker, a union officer who has worked at the hotel for 23 years. 

"Some are doing two days, some are doing one day, and some aren't doing anything at all," Walker said. 

The hotel's manager could not be reached for comment yesterday. Attempts to contact two officials representing the local hotels also were unsuccessful. 

But hotel operators appeared to be pleased. The deal gave employees "a boost in the arm" while allowing hotels to rebuild their business, said Jeff Lerer, an attorney for the hotel group. 

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