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The Strike is Over

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, May 30, 2013.

  1. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

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    A 10-year strike at the Congress Plaza hotel in downtown Chicago -- believed to be the longest hotel strike in the world --has ended.

    An attorney for the hotel said Unite Here Local 1, the union representing cleaning and maintenance workers, has offered an unconditional return to work as of midnight Wednesday. The union confirmed Thursday morning that it is ending the strike.

    "The decision to end the Congress strike was a hard one, but it is the right time for the union and the strikers to move on," Unite Here Local 1 President Henry Tamarin said in a statement. "The boycott has effectively and dramatically reduced the hotel’s business. ... There is no more to do there."

    The next step is still in question. Many of the 130 workers that originally went on strike have found new jobs or crossed the picket line and returned to work at Congress Plaza. If any strikers choose to come back to Congress as part of the "unconditional" return, terms call for them to be paid the same as they did more than a decade ago.

    Tamarin said when the strike started, the standard wage for room attendants was $8.83 per hour -- a wage contract workers still make. The city wide standard for room attendants is now $16.40 an hour, he said.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-congress-plaza-hotel-strike-20130530,0,2075347.story
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  2. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    I eagerly await the statement from union leaders of how much they accomplished for their members.
     
  3. Uncle.Ruckus

    Uncle.Ruckus Guest

    Your empathy for the working man is duly noted.
     
  4. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Stayed there with my dad (pre-strike of course). Legendary hotel. Teddy Roosevelt stayed there during his 1912 attempt at the Republican nomination.
     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    In one of the lawsuit's examples, Congress alleged that the union sent a "cow pie valentine" -- a heart shaped box filled with dry cow manure -- to the offices of The National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, which was considering hosting a conference at the hotel. The center held its conference as scheduled, but the Congress Plaza said that the stunt reduced its expected related bookings.
     
  6. Didn't know Drip worked for the union there.
     
  7. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    That's considerably more than a lot of journalists make.
     
  8. Uncle.Ruckus

    Uncle.Ruckus Guest

    Not in Chicago.
     
  9. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I just thought the similarity to Kramer's strike of H&H bagels was funny.
     
  10. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    I see the end zone dance for the champions of capitalism continues. You go, boys.
     
  11. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    And more Chicagoans make it back to work before Derrick Rose.
     
  12. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Some of us understand the Grand Canyon difference between "working man" and "union member screwed over once again by terrible union leadership."
     
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