Union workers from-area Hyatt hotels will vote Thursday on whether to authorize a strike in the wake of contract negotiations that have stretched out for nearly a year.
Union contracts covering 6,000 workers at 31 hotels in downtown Chicago expired Aug. 31, 2009, and the two sides have been unable to reach a settlement.
If the vote carries, it does not mean workers will strike. It authorizes the union’s negotiating committee to call a strike if it is deemed necessary.
Among those voting to authorize a possible strike are workers from the Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Hyatt McCormick Place and the Hyatt O’Hare.
This will be the second such vote since negotiations began. In October, Chicago hotel workers voted to authorize a strike at five downtown Starwood hotels. So far, they have not called for a strike.
Unite Here, the hotel workers’ union, has accused Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp. of using the recession as an excuse to make staff cuts, reduce hours and bring a less-than-fair labor package to the table and has staged several high-profile protests in downtown Chicago over the last several months.
Hyatt has responded that negotiations should be made at the bergaining table and has said that concessions they are requesting are fair in light of hits the hotel industry has taken in the economic downturn.
Ironic how Hyatt is owned by the Pritzkers, one of the biggest contributors to the Democratic Party and Obama, the same people who blast the Congress Hotel for its strike with hotel workers. Why don’t the Pritzkers put their money where their mouth is?