By Max Lavene
On June 15th of last year the workers at the Congress Plaza Hotel went on strike. The workers at the Congress are represented by Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 1. Despite being an AFL-CIO union, the local is somewhat democratic; it uses the shop steward system rather than have union professionals make all the decisions and, although there is often a strike captain on duty, lets the workers direct their own picket lines. Also, the bargaining committee is made up of rank-and-file workers. While certainly not self-management, Local 1 is better than most of today's unions.
The reasons for the strike are clear. Workers want the hotel to raise wages to $10 an hour, the same as other downtown Chicago hotels have done. They also want the hotel to pay more for health insurance to keep up with rising medical costs. The response by the hotel has been to push for a 7% wage cut, and to reject covering any insurance premium increases. When asked to justify their actions, hotel management cite the hit to the hotel industry after September 11th, but cannot provide any financial information to prove their case. The hotel declared an impasse and subcontracted out the union jobs to minimum wage scabs. This line of action was so blatantly illegal, even the bureaucratic and pro-boss National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against the hotel, which is still pending.
So, the rank-and-file voted 90% to strike until the hotel brought their conditions in line with the rest of the city. For the first six weeks the picket line ran 24 hours, then was bumped down to 4AM to 11PM. The strike has been tough on the workers, many of whom have had to struggle to keep food on the table.
Many Chicago activist groups have come out in solidarity with the workers. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Union of Industrial & Textile Employees (UNITE) locals have walked the picket line, reform groups such as ACORN and Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (which fights for affordable housing and a living wage) have also come out, as have revolutionary groups such as the Chicago Anarchist, Anti-Authoritarian, and Autonomist Coalition and members of the local Industrial Workers of the World.
Union calls for solidarity have been effective. Widespread solidarity and gutsy civil disobedience have made the local media receptive to the hotel strike. This combination has resulted in the turning away of about a million dollars worth of business, as well as getting advisories put up on Hotels.com, Travelocity.com, and Expedia.com, according to Lars Negstad, a union spokesperson.
The principal owner of the Congress is international capitalist Albert Nasser. The main source of his massive income is as a garment supplier for anti-union corporations, such as Wal-Mart. According to a report to be released by HERE May 3rd, after a Philippine subcontractor went union, Nasser's Gelmart Industries moved production to China and Guatemala where workers complain of poverty wages and high quotas. Because Nasser doesn't make most of his cash from the Congress Plaza Hotel, he has been able to hold out on the workers demands.
The union has organized solidarity actions with Gelmart's Philippine contractor, and the union workers are still fighting it out every day. It is crucial that we support the Congress strikers and beat back the bosses.