Hotel workers at Chicago Holiday Inn & Suites say housekeepers locked out over contract dispute
Hotel workers protested outside the Holiday Inn and Suites in downtown Chicago on Monday after they say the hotel locked out housekeepers over a contract dispute.
The rally was held outside the hotel on Harrison and Canal streets in the West Loop.
"Holiday Inn, you are in violation of our hospitality principles and we're here to call you out on it," said Father Clete Kiley, chaplain for the Chicago Federation of Labor.
Saturday, workers arrived for their regular shifts but were not allowed to work. Instead, the workers said they were locked out.
"We're here to tell you, this is enough already," said Father Kiley. "Get your act together, be a partner in our community, unlock the damn doors, return these workers, and sign the damn contract, or get out of town."
Housekeepers at the hotel voted to join Unite Here Local 1 in April 2023. Since then, for more than two years, workers have been advocating for a first union contract with fair wages and benefits. According to the union, housekeepers make $6 less at that hotel than other downtown hotel workers.
"If I made what other downtown Chicago hotels workers made, I would be able to save for that home," said Yaselt Mercado, one of the affected housekeepers who addressed the crowd in Spanish. CBS News Chicago has translated her remarks. "I won't let this lockout silence me. I want my children to see their mom standing up for herself and for them."
Local 705 said they have 14,000 members who are delivery drivers and refuse to drop off any packages or food to the hotel because of the lockout.
The hotel is owned and operated by affiliates of Level X Group, a real estate firm based out of Houston, Texas, and Hoffman Estates, Illinois. CBS News Chicago has reached out to the firm but have not yet heard back.
"They're not going to get away with it. They're not going to away with undercutting wages, they're not going to get away with disrespecting the workers here. Labor will not let it happen, and Chicago will not let it happen," said Joe Healy, Chicago Laborers District Council secretary and treasurer.
The company and the union had negotiations scheduled for Wednesday, but it's not clear if they will still happen.