Chicago—The noisy picket line now outside the venerable downtown Congress Hotel in this city is both an anachronism and a harbinger of the future in the hotel industry. The strike by 130 room attendants, bartenders, telephone operators, and other members of Hotel and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 1 was called on June 15 to insist that the Congress match the terms of the landmark citywide hotel contract won by most unionized hotel workers in Chicago last September. But the owners of the Congress, who had previously followed the citywide pattern even after dropping out of the management bargaining association, refused. Instead, claiming that negotiations were at a stalemate, they imposed a 7 percent pay cut in May—which brought wages for room attendants down to $8.21 an hour, compared to $10 an hour at other union hotels in Chicago—and effectively cut off health insurance for workers by refusing to pay increased premiums set by the health and welfare fund.
Unlike most big city hotels, the 840-room Congress is not part of a national or global corporation; it is owned by a limited partnership chaired by Albert Nasser, the Syrian-born owner of a global network of apparel manufacturing and importing operations, including Gelmart Industries, a major supplier to discount retailers like Wal-Mart. Historically hotels have been owned and operated by local investors, but now big corporations typically have a major stake in ownership, management, or franchising, and sometimes in all facets of running a hotel. In response, HERE is attempting to move toward a more national approach to hotel bargaining. Now contracts vary dramatically from one metropolitan market to another, even though the same corporations are in control.
For Local 1, winning citywide terms is important to send a message to unionized employers that the union is willing and able to strike to enforce its standards. After decades of decline and weakness, in 1999 the local was put under the control of a trustee, who rejuvenated it by organizing membership involvement. Although it had mobilized its members last fall, the union won its contract without a strike, and the work stoppage at the Congress is the first hotel strike in many decades in Chicago. It also sends a message to workers in the large number of non-union hotels that the local is now preparing to organize. “This is the first fight on the street for this union,” says Union President Henry Tamarin, “and whether we win or lose, other employers in existing unionized locations and non-union hotels are going to be looking at us and forming opinions.”
Union leaders have warned workers that it could be a long strike, and last spring more than 90 percent of Congress workers signed a petition pledging to strike until Congress agreed to the citywide terms, even if it meant forcing the current owners to shut the hotel down. “We’re going to be out here at least for months,” Tamarin says. “This is a rich guy who doesn’t believe workers should have rights, and he doesn’t need the money.” In similar circumstances over the past decade, HERE has fought recalcitrant employers for more than four years at locations such as the Box Tree Restaurant in New York and the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas (the Frontier fight ended when the owner sold to a businessman willing to sign a contract). Nasser, who apparently owns no other hotels, has run up debt on the hotel, which he bought relatively cheaply, while running down its operations. One operating company broke off its contract in the late ’90s and had to sue Nasser’s partnership to get fees the hotel had never paid. But Nasser, who maintains residences in New York and Geneva, appears to be quite wealthy, and management negotiators never claimed that the hotel was unable to pay the citywide terms.
While the union has pressured temporary agencies that have supplied strikebreakers, its leaders recognize that the union is better able to discourage guests from coming to the hotels than to block all replacement workers. Organizer Dan Miller claimed that in the first couple of weeks, picketers turned away about 150 guests and that some nights as few as 10 percent of hotel beds were occupied.
Congress workers, who participated in last year’s mobilization even though their contract didn’t expire until December, are determined to keep up the fight as long as necessary. “We’re looking for getting a contract the same as the other hotels,” says negotiating committee member Jose Sanchez, who works as a cook. “We’re very far behind compared to other cities.” Tamarin insists that ultimately Congress workers will decide what contract to accept, but many of them see the strategic importance of their fight for others. Henry Miller, a bartender at the hotel for 25 years, says that working conditions have gone downhill under Nasser’s ownership. “If we lose this, then three years from now, the other hotels will be coming up for contract, and the other hotels can figure, if the Congress can bust the union, we can do the same thing. … Give us the contract, or shut the hotel down.”
On July 2 hundreds of other hotel workers from around the city and supporters from other unions joined Congress strikers on the picket line. On the same day, workers at a Gelmart apparel factory in the Phillipines staged a demonstration in support of them. And by coincidence, a group of hotel executives walked past the Congress picket line as they emerged from an unrelated meeting in a nearby hotel. The message, from Michigan Avenue to east Asia, was loud and clear.
Unlike most big city hotels, the 840-room Congress is not part of a national or global corporation; it is owned by a limited partnership chaired by Albert Nasser, the Syrian-born owner of a global network of apparel manufacturing and importing operations, including Gelmart Industries, a major supplier to discount retailers like Wal-Mart. Historically hotels have been owned and operated by local investors, but now big corporations typically have a major stake in ownership, management, or franchising, and sometimes in all facets of running a hotel. In response, HERE is attempting to move toward a more national approach to hotel bargaining. Now contracts vary dramatically from one metropolitan market to another, even though the same corporations are in control.
For Local 1, winning citywide terms is important to send a message to unionized employers that the union is willing and able to strike to enforce its standards. After decades of decline and weakness, in 1999 the local was put under the control of a trustee, who rejuvenated it by organizing membership involvement. Although it had mobilized its members last fall, the union won its contract without a strike, and the work stoppage at the Congress is the first hotel strike in many decades in Chicago. It also sends a message to workers in the large number of non-union hotels that the local is now preparing to organize. “This is the first fight on the street for this union,” says Union President Henry Tamarin, “and whether we win or lose, other employers in existing unionized locations and non-union hotels are going to be looking at us and forming opinions.”
Union leaders have warned workers that it could be a long strike, and last spring more than 90 percent of Congress workers signed a petition pledging to strike until Congress agreed to the citywide terms, even if it meant forcing the current owners to shut the hotel down. “We’re going to be out here at least for months,” Tamarin says. “This is a rich guy who doesn’t believe workers should have rights, and he doesn’t need the money.” In similar circumstances over the past decade, HERE has fought recalcitrant employers for more than four years at locations such as the Box Tree Restaurant in New York and the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas (the Frontier fight ended when the owner sold to a businessman willing to sign a contract). Nasser, who apparently owns no other hotels, has run up debt on the hotel, which he bought relatively cheaply, while running down its operations. One operating company broke off its contract in the late ’90s and had to sue Nasser’s partnership to get fees the hotel had never paid. But Nasser, who maintains residences in New York and Geneva, appears to be quite wealthy, and management negotiators never claimed that the hotel was unable to pay the citywide terms.
While the union has pressured temporary agencies that have supplied strikebreakers, its leaders recognize that the union is better able to discourage guests from coming to the hotels than to block all replacement workers. Organizer Dan Miller claimed that in the first couple of weeks, picketers turned away about 150 guests and that some nights as few as 10 percent of hotel beds were occupied.
Congress workers, who participated in last year’s mobilization even though their contract didn’t expire until December, are determined to keep up the fight as long as necessary. “We’re looking for getting a contract the same as the other hotels,” says negotiating committee member Jose Sanchez, who works as a cook. “We’re very far behind compared to other cities.” Tamarin insists that ultimately Congress workers will decide what contract to accept, but many of them see the strategic importance of their fight for others. Henry Miller, a bartender at the hotel for 25 years, says that working conditions have gone downhill under Nasser’s ownership. “If we lose this, then three years from now, the other hotels will be coming up for contract, and the other hotels can figure, if the Congress can bust the union, we can do the same thing. … Give us the contract, or shut the hotel down.”
On July 2 hundreds of other hotel workers from around the city and supporters from other unions joined Congress strikers on the picket line. On the same day, workers at a Gelmart apparel factory in the Phillipines staged a demonstration in support of them. And by coincidence, a group of hotel executives walked past the Congress picket line as they emerged from an unrelated meeting in a nearby hotel. The message, from Michigan Avenue to east Asia, was loud and clear.
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David Moberg, a former senior editor of In These Times, was on staff with the magazine from when it began publishing in 1976 until his passing in July 2022. Before joining In These Times, he completed his work for a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Chicago and worked for Newsweek. He received fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Nation Institute for research on the new global economy.
