Over a thousand rally in front of Hyatt Regency in Chicago...

As part of a series of actions across the country, over a thousand people - hotel workers and their supporters - rallied in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago earlier today. Around a hundred people sat down to block the street in front of the hotel. About 20 were arrested.

UNITE-HERE Local 1 organizers say this is just the beginning of a ratcheting up of actions to take place over the next few months as hotel workers reach the one year mark in their fight for a new contract at over 30 hotels in the Chicago area.

Interviews with participants in todays raly will be aired on next Monday's episode of Labor Express Radio.

Pictures from the rally can be viewed here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/jerrymeadlucero/HyattJuly22ndRallyChicago?authkey=Gv1sRgCMuJqe6XxqakMg&feat=directlink

The following is from UNITE-HERE Local 1's press release...

The rich take unfair advantage of everything . . . even a recession. Hotel workers in Chicago and across North America have endured staff cuts, reduced hours, and excessive injury rates. Chicago-based Hyatt wants to take more away and lock workers into recession contracts even as the economy rebounds.

Now, on July 22nd, thousands of hotel workers in 15 cities across North America are standing up to people like the Pritzkers who run Hyatt, one of the wealthiest and most politically influential families in America.

People like the Pritzkers who run Hyatt are taking unfair advantage: While many hotel workers live in poverty, the Pritzker family cashed out over $900 million in their sale of Hyatt shares in November 2009, and Hyatt share values climbed 65% in the six months that followed. In one stark example, Hyatt fired its entire housekeeping staff from its three Boston-area hotels and replaced them with workers from a subcontracting agency earning minimum wage.

Hyatt workers and 6,500 other hotel workers in downtown Chicago have been in contract negotiations since August of 2009. Hundreds of workers at the Hyatt Regency Chicago walked off the job in late May in protest of poor working conditions in housekeeping.

Comments

Honduran Civil Society Leaders Visit Chicago, Advocate for Restoration of the Constitutional Government and an End to Human Rights Violations...

Honduran Civil Society Leaders Visit Chicago, Advocate for Restoration of the Constitutional Government and an End to Human Rights Violations La Voz de los de Abajo, Casa Morazán and NALACC invite you to panel discussions and community forums in Chicago with leaders of Honduran civil society touring U.S. with immigrant leaders to advocate for the restoration of the constitutional government and an end to the escalating human rights violations. One month after the interruption of constitutional order in Honduras through a military coup d’état and in the wake of widespread reports of human rights violations harkening back to events of the 1980s, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC) is bringing a delegation of civil society representatives from that country to the U.S. to participate in a speaking tour and to advocate for the restoration of constitutional order and respect for human rights. U.S. based Latino immigrant leaders will also join this del

The Siege of La Casita...

The Siege of La Casita: The war at Whittier Elementary School is far from over, but at least the most recent battle has been won. The siege of la casita, the field house which sits in Whittier ’s playground, has been lifted. Since Wednesday parents and community activists have occupied the facility to prevent its demolition by Chicago Public Schools (CPS). They want the field house protected and used, at least temporarily, as a library, a resource the school has been left without for years. They currently use the field house as a community center and a place for various activities for the children. They question CPS’s desire to spend over $300,000 on demolishing the structure rather than spend that money ensuring that the school has the resources its needs. The struggle at Whittier is nothing new. For much of the past decade, parents and community allies have had to fight to keep the school open and than fight yet again to make the smallest of improvements in what is

Dark day for Chicago, but a ray of light in the 25th Ward...

So Rahm Emmanuel has been elected the next privatizer in chief. Wisconsin is looking much closer to Chicago than ever before. Lets just hope we can organize the same type of labor rebellion against Rahm they have so successfully organized in Madison. Let’s see who loses their jobs first. Will the unions that decided to play nicey, nicey with Rahm really believe they will be spared Rahm’s meat cleaver? I suggest they bend over and kiss their collective asses good bye. Rahm is a man who loves to be feared not loved. I give it one year before even the most feverent Daley opponent (myself included), long wistfully for the return of daddy Daley, when evil step dad Rahm takes over. But all is not hopeless tonight. Here in the 25th, in good old Pilsen, we live to fight another day. Danny Solis has finally paid a small price for his host of sins. We have a run-off! Here are the totals as of 10:47 PM with 31 of 31 precincts counted and 100% of the vote in… CUAHUTÉMOC MORFÍN 2,451 27.96 % DANIEL

Search This Blog