CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A hotel industry executive said measures in the Chicago City Council meant to help sidelined employees get their jobs back would do just the opposite.
A so-called “Right to Return to Work” ordinance before the City Council would mandate procedures to make sure employees laid off during the pandemic get their jobs back in order of seniority.
But Michael Jacobson, President of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, suggested its burdensome and misguided, since it’s regardless of departments.
"So if a housekeeper is more senior than another employee, and a position opens up in the kitchen, we would have to hire that housekeeper for a position in the kitchen as a cook, and train them to become a cook, according to this ordinance," he said.
Giving laid off workers priority by senority is something Jacobsen said would likely happen anyway, but he said the procedures in the proposed ordinance are burdensome and counter-productive.
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Another part of the package would mandating daily housekeeping for hotel rooms. Jacobson said that violates CDC guidelines.
"They say housekeeping should only be offered when specifically requested by guests, because common sense tells you if there's a guest living or staying in that room, why would we send a housekeeper into that room to spend 30 minutes, an hour cleaning that room and potentially exposing them," he said.
Jacobsen said rather than dictating hiring practices and such, the employee union Unite Here could do more good by pushing for relaxation of rules barring larger gatherings and raising the priority for hotel workers to be vaccinated. They are not included in the Phase 1B essential worker category.