For over five years, employees of the Congress Hotel in downtown Chicago have walked the picket line, hoping to secure wages comparable to hotel employees across the city. And for five years, the Nasser family, which owns the hotel, has stubbornly refused to budge, citing a “competitive disadvantage” with national and regional chains that can afford to beef up their overhead costs by increasing room rates. While it’s been 18 months since the front office and the striking workers have even met to discuss their dispute, union officials now tell us that the bosses have are busy formulating expansion plans.

Last January, the Congress owners petitioned the Chicago Plan Commission to approve an expansion of their Michigan Avenue building. As David Roeder and Fran Spielman explained in a January 18 Sun-Times article, the New York-based ownership group wanted to add four floors to the hotel’s southwest portion along Harrison Street and one floor on the side near Michigan and Congress, which would accommodate a swimming pool, health club, restaurant, and about 56 hotel rooms. Confronted by pressure from unions and select aldermen, the commission broke with Mayor Daley and rejected the proposal.

Following the vote, the Congress owners sued the city, the Plan Commission, and UNITE-HERE Local 1, which represents the striking workers. According to Local 1 boycott coordinator Jessica Lawlor, city officials are now in negotiations to settle the lawsuit and might allow the hotel owners to bring their plan back to the commission for another vote. It’s also possible that the city’s Transportation and Public Ways Committee will reassess a plan that the Congress proposed several years ago to open a sidewalk cafe.

These moves to expand completely invalidate the owners’ justification for refusing to negotiate with the workers, whose average hourly wage still sits at a paltry $8.21 (37 percent below the regional average). Businesses struggling to compete shouldn’t expand without first ensuring its workforce is paid a living wage. “I think it goes back to the city-wide standards,” says Lawlor. “In Chicago, there are living wage and benefit standards the entire industry has that the Congress refuses to match. They shouldn’t be rewarded with an expansion.”

The city’s next planning meeting is scheduled for today at 1 p.m. today. UNITE-HERE plans to hold a demonstration outside of City Hall beginning at 12:30 p.m. We will provide any updates as they roll in.

UPDATE: (1/16, 10 a.m.): The Plan Commission met yesterday at City Hall but did not discuss the possible expansion of the Congress Hotel. Commissioners were met by 60 workers, union representatives, and sympathizers who demonstrated outside City Hall in sub-zero temperatures. Although officials refused to discuss the matter with the workers, two Cook County commissioners pledged their support to the cause. Claire Bushey at the Chi-Town Daily News has the full update.