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Unite Here Local 1, a union of 15,000 hospitality workers in
jobs at hotels, airports, stadiums, casinos and more in and
around Chicago, held a vote that resulted in 85% of voting
members authorizing a strike.
Karen Kent, president of Local 1, told The Center Square the
union wants a guaranteed pay increase for its members, who have
reported increasingly difficult economic conditions in a survey
of members conducted last year.
“We've had a number of different negotiations with different
employers. We workers really need to get significant wage
increases,” Kent said. “A number of them reported going to food
banks to make sure they had food to feed their families. A
number of them reported needing payday loans to make sure that
they could pay their bills and a significant number also talked
about not being able to pay their rent.”
The union leader said workers are also want to maintain or
increase employee benefits, such as increased retirement and
affordable healthcare.
The union hasn’t revealed when or where they plan to strike,
which Kent said was strategic.
“A strike could happen at any time and the overwhelming majority
have voted and we could have strikes at any number of places,”
Kent said. “We're not going to show our whole hand, but frankly,
you know, any time, anywhere and as many as all [hotels].”
The union’s last major strike, which took place in 2018,
impacted 26 hotels simultaneously, resulting in hotel companies
agreeing to give union employees and their families year-round
health insurance coverage.
“A lot of times in the slow months, people lost their healthcare
and we won significant gains and frankly, that language that we
won, those benefits during the slow months kept a lot of people
alive during the pandemic,” Kent said.
A release from the union noted that top hotel chains like Hyatt,
Hilton and Marriott made a combined $22.3 billion in returns to
shareholders over the last three years.
Representatives of Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott didn’t respond to
a request for comment in time for publication.
Kent noted that while many employees want to continue working,
they feel the need for improved contract terms are more
important.
“People would really like to stay at work and keep working. I
would just underline that people want to do their jobs,” Kent
said. “People can't wait, they can't wait to see if they're
going to be able to pay their rent, feed their families, and if
they're going to have enough money to pay their bills.”
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