Unions representing hotel workers say the SARS health crisis is costing them lost wages, and with no end in sight, they are calling the situation "Toronto's September 11th."

Hotels in the city say they have 20 per cent fewer visitors than normal. And with managers expecting an even poorer summer season, hundreds of hospitality workers have been laid off while others have had their hours reduced, says Paul Clifford, president of the Hotel Employees, Restaurant Employees International Union, local 75.

"This is Toronto's September 11th," Clifford told a news conference Thursday. "The SARS outbreak is no longer just a public health crisis, it is a jobs crisis in Toronto."

Donald Patenaude, a bellman who has been reduced to one shift a week at the downtown hotel where he works, said one-third of his fellow bellmen have been laid off.

"We've got single mothers sitting at home right now. They're thinking 'how am I going to pay this bill? How am I going to feed my kids?' "

Clifford says that while the perception of the SARS risk is greater than the reality, in the tourism industry "perception becomes the reality."

"We're coming into the busiest season. This is the time when there should be days you can't find a hotel room vacant in Toronto," Clifford told reporters at an earlier news conference Wednesday. "By and large, more than half of the hotel rooms are empty."

Clifford hopes the federal government can help with changes to Canada's Employment Insurance program.

"The truth is, E.I. isn't working for this situation," he said. "The waiting period is too long. It's going to take weeks and weeks to get a cheque for those who even qualify."

The Canadian Labour Congress is requesting a meeting with Human Resources Minister Jane Stewart to discuss the immediate reduction in the number of hours needed to collect employment insurance benefits.

"The hours requirements should be reduced to 360 hours, in view of the fact that a lot of the workers have just come out of a seasonal winter layoff and there's no way that they could get enough hours to qualify," said Winnie Ng, spokeswoman for the congress.

The labour congress also wants to extend the minimum period a recipient can collect benefits, from 15 weeks to at least 35 weeks "in case the outbreak continues to get more serious."

A ministry spokesman said Stewart is looking at the issue, but an official response would be premature. He noted that the ministry did move quickly to waive the two-week waiting period for workers receiving E.I. sickness benefits due to SARS quarantines.

In a visit to Toronto last week, Prime Minister Jean Chretien put the initial onus for compensation on the province. On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves said it's simply not possible to compensate everyone affected by the illness.

Clifford said Thursday that the economic fallout from SARS needs to be dealt with at all three levels of government - federal, provincial and municipal.

"We can't afford to pass the buck between different levels of leadership," he said.

The Metro Toronto Convention Centre says it has already lost two major events to SARS. And Air Canada expects that SARS will have a "material impact" on its bottom line.