With its union roots and a new convention center, you would think that Pittsburgh would be a lock to host next year's United Steelworkers of America convention.

But the Steelworkers have found their hometown lacking one essential ingredient -- unionized hotels, ironically enough.

As a result, the Pittsburgh-based union is thinking about heading back to Las Vegas, which was the site of its 2002 convention, and which has more than enough organized labor in its hotels to go along with all that glitz.

The same can't be said of the Steel City, an odd situation given its rich labor history.

"It's our dirty little secret," said Jim English, the USW secretary-treasurer who oversees convention planning.

English said the USW will need more than 2,500 union hotel rooms for its 2005 convention, the first in three years. Pittsburgh, he said, has a little over 2,000 union hotel rooms available.

"We really would have liked to have done it in Pittsburgh. The convention center was very cooperative and worked very closely with us," he said. "The irony of it is that the city with the most union hotels is Las Vegas. We can put virtually all of the people in one hotel and hold the convention there."

The union still has not made a final decision on where to convene, he said.

The Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau had pulled out all the stops in an effort to win the USW's business, even enlisting the help of Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and other top officials.

"We're disappointed, obviously. We were hoping very much to serve as hosts. It's a very important group," convention bureau President Joseph McGrath said.

McGrath believes the results could have been different had the convention bureau had access to a "headquarters hotel" near the convention center. A proposed 500-room, $104 million hotel is still on the drawing board, its development stalled by funding shortfalls.

He believes the new hotel, which would be next door to the unionized Westin Convention Center Hotel, also will be a union shop. He said that should help in the future, assuming it is built.

McGrath said the convention bureau plans to bid again for the USW's 2008 convention.

"We hope by 2008 to have enough hotel rooms to throw into the mix," he said.

The steelworkers did hold a convention in Pittsburgh in the mid 1990s. Since then, one hotel has gone from union to non-union.