On Monday the largest hotel workers’ strike in Chicago history entered its second week with negotiations still under way and many hotel beds still left unmade. Thousands of members of Unite Here Local One, which represents more than 15,000 area hospitality workers, are picketing around the clock at 25 local hotels (a full list is here). The union is calling for year-round health care for workers as part of its new contract. Currently workers laid off for the off-season lose their health care benefits. Meanwhile the workloads of others increase to compensate for their absence.
That still leaves thousands of angry employees of chain hotels marching and chanting and filling the sidewalks in front of the entrances. Guests have to duck in and out of picket lines in order to enter or exit the premises, but for now the hotels are insisting that they’re unfazed by the demonstrations.
