Meanwhile, managers at Eliot and Kirkland schedule frequent meetings. The cooking staff gathers once a week and the entire staff gets together every other week, according to Conti.

But regardless of their efforts to open the lines of communication, staff aren't necessarily forthcoming about their objections to the renovations.

"If they are upset, they are keeping it to themselves," says one Kirkland staffer.

Not only do some staff feel they cannot go to HUDS, some also feel their union--Local 26 Restaurant and Hotel Workers--isn't responsive either.

"The union is no good at all. Nobody else will solve these problems," says an Eliot staff member.

Staff pay $12 per week in union dues, and every House unit in the HUDS system has a shop steward. But some HUDS staff say they haven't heard from their union representative in over a year.

"Union meetings are on Sunday, and we're here cooking and doing our jobs," says another chef. "They're saying, 'we're putting you on the backburner right now,' as all of these hotels are building in Boston."

Union president Janice Loux didn't return two weeks of Crimson phone calls and faxes.