Workers at six Chicago hotels walked off the job Friday as the city heads into marathon weekend
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, said the workers’ union, Unite Here Local 1.Unite Here represents hotel staff such as room attendants, dishwashers, front desk agents, servers and more at hotels throughout the city. Contracts at dozens of hotels covering around 7,000 workers expired as of Aug. 31, the union has said, and hotel workers voted to authorize strikes last month.
As of Friday, workers at the following hotels were on strike, the union said: Millennium Hotel Knickerbocker Chicago, Palmer House, Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, Waldorf Astoria Chicago, The Westin Chicago River North and The Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago.
“As Chicago welcomes marathon runners and visitors from around the world, hotel workers are being pushed to the breaking point while greedy hotel honchos cash in,” the union’s president, Karen Kent, said in a statement, adding that “the workers who make this industry run are struggling to pay rent and feed their families.”
The union’s contracts with different employers are bargained separately. Unite Here said it could call strikes at additional hotels at any time, and said contracts had not been settled with any employers.
In a statement, Marriott, which owns the Sheraton Grand and the striking Westin hotels, said in a statement that its hotels “have well-established protocols in place to operate and take care of guests in the event of any impact to staffing, and we look forward to welcoming our guests to Chicago this weekend.”
“We remain available to meet with the local union negotiating committee to reach an agreement that is fair to all parties,” Marriott said.
After workers first voted to strike and before Friday’s strike was announced, the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association said the group was “deeply concerned about the negative impact a work stoppage will have on employees, visitors, hotels, and the city as a whole” and added that hotels have “robust contingency plans” in place.
The last major hotel strike in Chicago occurred in 2018, when workers walked out at more than two dozen hotels.
Juana Sanchez, a housekeeper at the Grand Sheraton and one of the workers who began chanting with signs outside of the hotel at 5 a.m. Friday, wants hotel management to hire more staff to support current workers.
“When I started, I was 118 on the schedule, now we only got 92 ladies working,” said Sanchez, a drum beating behind her from one of the striking employees. “The work that is for two ladies, there’s only one lady doing it.”
As a single mom, 46-year-old Sanchez is particularly hurt by the intense workload and low pay.
“Right now, I owe over $40,000,” Sanchez said. “When I get home, I don’t have the same quality time that I get with my kids. I get tired, and I just want to get some rest.”
Sanchez is frustrated by hotel management’s refusal to take their demands seriously.
“They say it’s just money for them, but what about us?” She said, shaking her head. “We are the ones who make them rich.”
“The hotel companies want to keep the money,” said Kent, standing in front of the picket lines of striking Grand Sheraton employees. “They’re making a lot and they’re keeping it in their pockets, and we’re gonna have to shake it out of them.”
“I think that our workers here represent thousands of working people across Chicago, and frankly, across the nation,” she added. “This is a moment of desperation because nobody wants to be on strike.”
“I love my work,” Sanchez said. “Give us what we need. It’s nothing much.”
“To the marathon runners, we are sorry that y’all are in the middle of it,” said 45-year-old Martese Kennedy, a house attendant at the Grand Sheraton. “We love you all, we love the marathon, we’re just trying to get what’s right for us.”
“It takes one phone call,” Kent held her phone up and shrugged. “If they call, I’ll be ready.”
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