Hilton Workers on Strike

By Sean Stillmaker in News on Oct 17, 2010 6:00PM

Hundreds of union workers from Unite Here Local 1 started marching in front of the Michigan Avenue Hilton Saturday morning beginning a three-day strike. They banged on pots, waved their signs and made their voices heard to hotel management and guests. Local 1’s strike joins their fellow Unite Here workers who went on strike in Honolulu and San Francisco earlier this past week.

Hilton’s workers are among the 8,000 citywide union hotel employees whose contracts expired over a year ago with nothing substantial transpiring from negotiations. In August Local 1 voted in 96 percent favor to strike at the four area properties if necessary, which are the Chicago Hilton, Hilton O’Hare, the Palmer House Hilton and the Drake.

The workers include housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks bell staff, food servers and others. They are currently making $8 an hour plus tips, and are seeking a 7 percent wage increase, which the hotel said untenable, the Tribune reports. “Despite having benefited from millions in taxpayer dollars, Hilton’s proposals threaten to lower the standard for cleanliness and guest service,” said Unite Here Local 1 President Henry Tamarin.

The Hilton received $180 million in bailout funds and Blackstone, the owner of Hilton Worldwide, also go $4 billion in government assistance, ABC reported. A Hilton press release states, “Union tactics such as work stoppages and demonstrations will do nothing to bring us closer to a new contract.”

The strike will go through Monday as contract negotiations continue. After that some Local 1 members will go across town and continue to picket the Congress Hotel where they have been on strike for seven years, making it the longest strike in American History.