SAN FRANCISCO -- Union leaders and representatives of San Francisco's biggest and most famous hotels went to City Hall Monday for their first face-to-face meeting.

Mayor Gavin Newsom called them together hoping to make some headway in this labor dispute.

Afterwards, it was clear their differences will be hard to overcome.

"I don't think that anybody is optimistic at this point that there's going to be an easy solution to it," said Starwood Hotels Chief negotiator Richard Curiale. "It's a very complex issue."

Represented were such landmark hotels as the Westin St. Francis, the Grand Hyatt, the Hilton off Union Square as well as the Fairmont, the Four Seasons, the W, and the Mark Hopkins.

Hotel officials say the most complex issue and principle sticking point in the talks remains the rising cost of healthcare.

"Right now, the employer pays $1,100 per month per employee. Kaiser projects it's going to go up about 30 percent over three years, there's no end in sight. We need to talk about plan redesign. And we need to start to talk about additional employee contributions," said Curiale.

Mike Casey, Local 2 Hotel Workers President disagreed. "You guys know the story about Hyatt, right? $950 million in the stock market last week," said Casey. "You know, we're not going to agree to have our members pay hundreds of dollars of health care costs when these guys are making that kind of money."

Workers went on a three-day strike at a single hotel -- the Grand Hyatt -- last Thursday.

Union officials said they want to avoid give-backs in the form of higher health-care premiums. They said they're asking for relatively little in wage, pension and health care benefits.

"The whole deal amounts to one and a half percent. You know, when we get it all done," said Casey.

"We're prepared to go back to the table and negotiate as long as it takes to get some resolution on this issue," said Curiale.

Unless the two sides can reach a deal soon, union officials say there will be at least one more short targeted strike before Thanksgiving.

"We'll have to gauge who's the most hostile in negotiations," Casey said. "Who seems to be the most resistant? Who do we need to hurt with a boycott?"

It could happen at any of the city's best-known hotels.

A patron of the St. Francis was discouraged by that news. "As a consumer, a strike is never ideal," said Alex Kowalczyk, who was visiting from Seattle. "But at the same time, you have to side with the employees. But that's just my opinion."

Both sides seemed thankful that the mayor brought them together.

The next scheduled meeting between is Thursday, when the Hyatt is set to negotiate with the union. Hyatt officials said that meeting was planned before the recent three-day walkout.