Unionized hotel workers held a 1-day strike on Friday, outside the Holiday Inn Chicago Downtown, after 17 months of stalled negotiations toward their first contract, voting unanimously to unionize with the UNITE HERE Local 1 more than 2 years ago.
"The hotel has refused to respect our decision to have the Union represent us in collective bargaining. The hotel needs to follow the law and come to the bargaining table," said Enrique Raymundo who has worked as a houseman at the Holiday Inn Chicago Downtown for two years.
Union leaders say that the hotel, owned and operated by affiliates of Level X Group, is in violation of federal labor law.
"The Holiday Inn Chicago Downtown needs to meet workers at the bargaining table as they are required to do under federal labor law. This disregard for the dignity of workers and the rule of law has no place in our city," said Karen Kent, President of UNITE HERE Local 1.
After the redrawing of municipal maps, the hotel, located at 506 W. Harrison in the West Loop is no longer in the 25th ward, however Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez has returned to offer his support to the striking hotel workers.
"Unfair labor practices, unwillingness to negotiate with the workers, in a time like this when inflation continues to go up, living costs are astronomical. These are workers who have been here working for a long time, this is affecting families.", said Sigcho-Lopez, "Now we're not only dealing with persecution and harassment of our immigrant communities but unfair labor practices?"
The alderman adds that this group is dear to him because they used to be in his ward, he knows they are hard workers, and being a labor town, it's important that Chicago sets a different tone on how workers are treated in the country.
The workers did expect to return to their regular schedules at the hotel on Saturday after holding the 1 day strike on Friday.
Last June, workers launched a boycott of the hotel, asking the public to commit to respecting the boycott and not to patronize the Holiday Inn Chicago Downtown until management agrees to a fair contract. The boycott is on-going.
Level X Group has not yet responded to requests from our newsroom for comment.
