Hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency, a central hub for this year's Toronto International Film Festival, held a one-day walkout on Friday.

Their union, UNITE HERE Local 75, said the walkout began after talks with the hotel owner ran past a midnight deadline without a new agreement.

About 100 workers began picketing outside the hotel Friday morning. A rally involving hotel workers from all over the city was held outside the downtown hotel in the late afternoon.

The walkout at the hotel, on King Street West, comes a week before it is set to be the hotel headquarters for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which runs Sept. 9-19.

The workers do not intend to disrupt TIFF, said Amarjeet Chhabra, an organizer for the union.

However, she called on the hotel to "come to its senses" and held out the threat of further walkouts during the festival.

Contract expired last winter

The workers' contract expired at the end of January, and the two sides have bargained for months.

Chhabra said key issues include efforts by the hotel to cut staff, benefits and hours.

Union spokeswoman Althea Porter-Harvey said the hotel workers would be returning to work Saturday and added that the union still hopes to reach an agreement.

Hyatt Regency spokesman Celso Thompson said the hotel is ready to continue negotiations, but none are scheduled.

"We are extremely disappointed on what is going on," Thompson told CBC News.

"The collective agreement has expired since Feb. 1, 2010. We've been ready to negotiate. We've been doing only a couple of months. Why now?"

TIFF spokeswoman Jennifer Bell said the Hyatt Regency is scheduled to be "a hub of activity" for the 35th edition of the film festival, with many news conferences and other events set to take place there.

"At this point, we have been in regular contact, obviously, with the management of the Hyatt Regency," Bell said. "We are monitoring the situation. At present, we don't believe it will have an impact on the film festival."