(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Employees of the Selina Hotel, just off North Michigan Avenue, are being laid off as the city plans to use the hotel as a shelter.
Sixteen employees of the 116-room hotel will lose their jobs.
“It is simply inexcusable for Selina hotel workers to lose their jobs when they want nothing more than to do the work they love and provide hospitality for people in need of a home,” said Karen Kent, president of Unite Here Local 1.
City officials say the hotel, which was used earlier this year to house migrants, will be used as a shelter for the next seven months. Plans reportedly are for the rooms to house local homeless people.
Employees say it’s disappointing to be displaced after they welcomed migrants with open arms.
“I feel very betrayed. We work very hard. We are being thrown out like a piece of garbage without a thank you,” Linwei Xiao, a front desk supervisor for the past five years, said.
Mayor Johnson's office said the administration has offered to help hotel employees find new jobs.
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