A hotel workers’ union is mounting a referendum campaign to kill the city-approved Kimpton hotel on Solano Avenue after failing to negotiate assurances of a favorable union policy by the operators prior to construction.

Unite Here is seeking to gather some 3,600 voter signatures by Thursday’s deadline to force a public vote on the hotel’s future.

“Somebody needs to speak for these workers,” said union organizer Owen Li. “Someone needs to hold the developers accountable for their actions.”

Unite Here is embracing the traffic and noise concerns of neighbors as part of its strategy to unionize the 196-room Kimpton at Solano and Wine Country Avenue, Li said.

“The hotel did not address the concerns of the overwhelming majority of people in the neighborhood or the union,” he said.

Council members, who approved the Kimpton on a 3-2 vote on June 3, reacted with surprise and irritation that a union was trying to derail a desired tourist project.

A spokesman for the developer, McCuen Properties of Sacramento, and the operator, Kimpton hotels, said this tactic endangered the project.

“I guess they’re going to play hardball any way they can,” said Councilwoman Juliana Inman, who voted for the Kimpton. “Who are they organizing — workers? Or are they organizing neighbors? Who is the tool of whom?” Inman said.

“This is a strong-arm tactic that I just don’t think belongs in Napa,” said Councilman Peter Mott, another Kimpton supporter. “They’re sending a message to Kimpton and the proposed Ritz-Carlton: we’re going to fight you unless you play ball with us.”

Mayor Jill Techel, who voted against the Kimpton because of traffic concerns, voiced disapproval of the petition campaign’s hidden sponsorship. “I think that is a story that needs to be told,” she said.

“Why are you bringing paid signature gatherers to town? That concerns me.” Techel said.

Techel said the issue of quality jobs is a valid one which the city is beginning to address with new hotel applications. Lining up a union in advance of construction isn’t the only way to do this, she said.

“It’s unbelievable that the union’s efforts will not only endanger the project, but the various jobs they’re out to protect,” said Kevin Teague, the Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty attorney representing McCuen Properties.

“The referendum could undo the two years it took to process the Kimpton project,” Teague said. The public gained additional parking and road improvements, he said.

Napa stands to earn $1.3 million annually in bed tax revenue — money that is needed for public services, Teague said.

The developers didn’t receive a letter from the union until two weeks ago, Teague said. The union asked Kimpton for a “neutrality agreement,” a promise that it would not fight an effort to organize its workers, he said.

Both McCuen and Kimpton are willing to negotiate such an agreement, Teague said. There is plenty of time to do so since the hotel won’t open until 2011, he said. The union letter did not mention employee wages and benefits, he said.

Unite Here first surfaced at City Hall in early May when union representatives asked the City Council to scrutinize wages and benefits before approving new hotels. Napa is beginning to attract higher-quality hotels that can afford to pay more than today’s industry average, union officials said.

A week ago, union representatives spoke out against the Ritz-Carlton at a Planning Commission meeting. Li asked that the hotel be delayed until more environmental studies could be done.

In an interview, Li said his union had tried talking to Kimpton and Ritz-Carlton developers, but had failed to win the concessions that it wanted.

These hotels can afford to pay a “living wage” of $15 to $17 an hour, Li said. Although his union represents workers at Kimpton hotels in San Francisco, Kimpton has engaged in anti-union activity in the past, he said.

Would his union also mount a referendum to stop the Ritz-Carlton if it is approved by the council on July 15? “It’s premature to talk about that now. We’re always hopeful we can reach an accommodation,” Li said Thursday.

Li said he recruited neighborhood supporters from among those who spoke against the Kimpton at city hearings. “We believe in smart growth and responsible growth,” he said.

The union will spend about $20,000 to gather signatures for the Kimpton referendum, Li said. “It is a lot of money considering we’re a union representing dishwashers and housekeepers,” he said.

Carla Cliff, who lives a block behind the proposed Kimpton, said the hotel was a bad fit for Napa and would worsen traffic at Solano and Wine Country avenues.

“I think it’s ridiculous to have a hotel with that kind of grandeur in this kind of community,” Cliff said. Low hotel wages would not benefit Napa, she said.

Steve Huen, a neighbor who voiced traffic concerns at the council’s Kimpton hearing, said he had heard of the union’s referendum effort. “I don’t endorse it,” he said.

Li suggested that the Register contact Father Abel Mena of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for a comment on the social justice issues associated with his union’s anti-Kimpton drive.

Mena declined to comment. “I really don’t have any awareness of the referendum at this moment,” he said.

Paid workers have been gathering petition signatures for more than a week at such popular shopping locations as the south Napa Target, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, Li said.

Napa City Attorney Michael Barrett said the union needed to gather the signatures of 10 percent of registered voters and present the referendum petition to the city within 30 days of the council’s final approval vote on June 3.

According to the county elections office, Napa has 36,000 voters. Ten percent would be 3,600 signatures.

The city has 30 days to determine if the petitions comply with all the requirements of state law, which can be complex, Barrett said. If the petition is procedurally sufficient, the City Council is required to either repeal project approval or submit the referendum to voters, he said.

A referendum would have to be approved by a majority of voters. The Kimpton project would be suspended until the election outcome was known.

If a referendum did not qualify for a regularly scheduled election, such as November, the city could be required to call a special election, Barrett said.

Li is open to the possibility that the union, the developers and the city could strike a deal at the last moment that would allow the hotel to be built.

Besides labor assurances, the union would insist that the hotel be downsized or pay for additional traffic mitigation, Li said.

Kimpton wants to build its 196-room hotel on the site of the 115-room Chateau, which would be razed.