As more than 4,000 Waikiki hotel workers prepare to vote next week on whether to authorize a strike, the hotels say they have contingency plans to deal with any work disruption but hope not to use them.

Workers in contract talks with four Sheraton hotels and the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa are scheduled to vote Wednesday whether to give union negotiators the ability to call for a strike. The union, UNITE HERE Local 5, represents about 2,500 workers at the Sheraton properties and 1,600 at Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Unions often use strike authorization votes as a tool to increase pressure on management in negotiations. Contract talks between Local 5 and the hotels are expected to continue after Wednesday's vote.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which operates the Sheraton properties, has contingency plans in case of a strike, said spokesman David Uchiyama. But at this point, he added, the company is focused more on negotiations and reaching a deal rather than strike plans.

"Anytime we get in a negotiating year, we dust off the plans and we run through our checklist," Uchiyama said. "But because the talks have progressed so well, our focus is on the talks."

If negotiators "get to a point where we don't feel that the talks are moving in the right direction and progressing the way they have, then we may consider looking at those plans further," he said.

Hilton also said it's prepared but hopes both sides can reach an agreement.

"In the event there is a work stoppage, the hotel does have a plan to maintain services," said Hilton Hawaiian Village spokeswoman Cynthia Rankin. "There may be a few departments where services will be modified."

In the meantime, negotiations between the union and the two hotel companies resumed yesterday and are scheduled to continue today.

Hilton has said it proposed a package that includes raises of 3.25 percent per year for each year of a proposed four-year contract and complained that the union hasn't responded.

Local 5 says it wants to address other issues first, such as employee workloads and subcontracting.

"We're going to continue to bargain before the strike vote and we're likely to continue to bargain after the strike vote as well," said Local 5 spokesman Cade Watanabe. "We don't know how long after, but it doesn't mean that we are going to strike the next day. But it doesn't mean that we can't, because technically we can."

UNITE HERE members in Toronto have already authorized a strike, and unionized hotel workers in San Francisco, Chicago and Monterey, Calif., are scheduled to take strike authorization votes this month, Watanabe said. He said the vote in Hawai'i next week is in response to local circumstances here and is not part of a national campaign.

Labor contracts covering more than 5,500 employees at eight Waikiki hotels expired June 30, but talks have continued. Contracts for employees at the Ala Moana Hotel and the Kahala Hotel & Resort will expire the end of this month.

UNITE HERE was created by the merger of two unions, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.