Business Notes LABOR

Should employers be expected to make sure that their workers can afford decent housing? Absolutely, said the maids, bell hops, waiters and waitresses at nine of Boston's leading hotels. No way, management replied. But some 3,000 members of the local hotel and restaurant union prevailed last week in contract talks that may open up a new category of employee benefits. The hotels agreed to set up a housing fund of up to $1 million to help their workers pay up-front fees for rental of apartments and down payments on houses. The concept of a worker housing fund is still so new, however, that the union will not be able to administer the money until Congress passes legislation to authorize it.