The new owner of the iconic Westin Long Beach Hotel, scene of multiple labor protests and picket lines, has extended union recognition to the hotel’s workers, according to a news release issued Thursday.

And the workers are poised to begin negotiations with management concerning pay, benefits and working conditions, a release from the office of Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce stated.

The development is the culmination of a very visible labor dispute in recent years that was marked by protests, calls for a boycott and a lawsuit alleging poor working conditions.

Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 25,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona, began seeking to unionize the staff in February 2015.

Pearce, who worked as an organizer for the pro-labor group Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy before being elected to the Long Beach City Council in 2016, played a role in resolving the dispute.

“After a year of reaching out to the owners of the Westin, asking them to come to the table with workers, I commend the new owners of the Westin in their democratic approach to ensuring all workers have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives,” Pearce said Thursday night in a statement.

“This is a win for residents, workers, the Westin and for the city as a whole,” said the councilwoman from the 2nd District.

Pearce is scheduled to appear at a Friday news conference announcing the development with Mayor Robert Garcia; John Ault, Westin Long Beach Hotel managing director; hotel workers; and Lorena Lopez, director of Unite Here Local 11.

The press conference is scheduled to take place at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Long Beach City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Boulevard, in the third-floor conference room.

Highgate Hotels began operating the 460-room hotel last month and agreed to end the long-running dispute, the release stated. According to a news report, the hotel sold for $84.8 million.

In 2015, in the wake of the call for unionization, the union called for a boycott. That same year, attorneys representing employees filed a lawsuit alleging the former operator failed to pay full wages and provide rest breaks for housekeepers and food service workers.

Earlier, in 2012, Pearce helped lead the campaign for Measure N, a local ballot measure that established a minimum wage for employees of large, non-union hotels in the city.

But even though Long Beach hotel workers benefit from the living wage initiative voters passed, the release stated, many workers still struggle to cover basic expenses such as health insurance. And it said they are exposed to high rates of work-related injury, particularly those employed in housekeeping.