A group of five Portland priests is calling on Catholic groups to boycott the downtown Hilton Hotel.

The priests, all members of the workers’ rights group Jobs with Justice, sent a letter to parishes and church organizations this spring charging that management of the hotel is “resisting union initiatives very important to the workers.”

The letter asked that Catholic institutions book events elsewhere and move meetings that may already be on the Hilton calendar.

“We . . . are concerned that the legitimate needs of workers are being resisted by the Hilton management,” says the letter, signed by Msgr. Chuck Lienert and Fathers Don Buxman, Loren Kerkof, Bob Krueger and Jack Mosbrucker.

At issue are the room cleaning workload, a wage increase, the pension plan, bus pass aid and job security.

The hotel has long been favored by Catholic groups because it is a union shop, one of only three Oregon hotels that is unionized. Catholic groups have also cited the hotel’s philanthropy.

Tracy Marks, the manager, says reports of worker discontent are overblown. A vote for a boycott came in a committee of about a dozen of the hotel’s 450 workers, Marks says.

“We already pay the highest wages and the best benefits package of any hotel here in the state,” says Marks. “My people are actually very happy.”

The union, which represents 250 Hilton workers, negotiated with management for 10 months before the talks broke down. Once per month, about a dozen union members rally at the site, one of downtown’s most bustling establishments.

Marks says the boycott, called last year, has so far caused four cancellations and a loss of about $120,000 in business.

Groups that have pulled out so far are a Jewish leadership forum, Tualatin firefighters, a civil liberties association and Planned Parenthood.