(The Center Square) –The Chicago hotel workers union voted to authorize a strike this week, after their contract expired at the end of August, and negotiations with many of the largest hotel brands haven’t led to an agreement.
Unite Here Local 1, a union of 15,000 hospitality workers in jobs at hotels, airports, stadiums, casinos and more in and around Chicago, held a vote that resulted in 85% of voting members authorizing a strike.
Karen Kent, president of Local 1, told The Center Square the union wants a guaranteed pay increase for its members, who have reported increasingly difficult economic conditions in a survey of members conducted last year.
“We’ve had a number of different negotiations with different employers. We workers really need to get significant wage increases,” Kent said. “A number of them reported going to food banks to make sure they had food to feed their families. A number of them reported needing payday loans to make sure that they could pay their bills and a significant number also talked about not being able to pay their rent.”
The union leader said workers are also want to maintain or increase employee benefits, such as increased retirement and affordable healthcare.
The union hasn’t revealed when or where they plan to strike, which Kent said was strategic.
“A strike could happen at any time and the overwhelming majority have voted and we could have strikes at any number of places,” Kent said. “We’re not going to show our whole hand, but frankly, you know, any time, anywhere and as many as all [hotels].”
The union’s last major strike, which took place in 2018, impacted 26 hotels simultaneously, resulting in hotel companies agreeing to give union employees and their families year-round health insurance coverage.
“A lot of times in the slow months, people lost their healthcare and we won significant gains and frankly, that language that we won, those benefits during the slow months kept a lot of people alive during the pandemic,” Kent said.
A release from the union noted that top hotel chains like Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott made a combined $22.3 billion in returns to shareholders over the last three years.
Representatives of Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott didn’t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Kent noted that while many employees want to continue working, they feel the need for improved contract terms are more important.
“People would really like to stay at work and keep working. I would just underline that people want to do their jobs,” Kent said. “People can’t wait, they can’t wait to see if they’re going to be able to pay their rent, feed their families, and if they’re going to have enough money to pay their bills.”
