There were a number of Chicago City Council committee meetings today in order to advance matters for Wednesday’s full council session. One committee that did not meet and has, in fact, only met once since the start of 2012 is the Workforce Development and Audit Committee, chaired by Ald. Patrick O’Connor (40th), Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s council floor leader.
That the workforce committee is missing in action means that Ald. Jason Ervin’s (28th) ordinance to guarantee the city’s 2,400 airport workers a “living wage” hasn’t moved since it was referred to the committee last October – even as the majority of airport concession workers head into contract negotiations this summer. Read more »
The latest chapter in the ongoing labor dispute between Hyatt Hotels
Corp. and workers unfolded Thursday as union members took to the picket
line to protest against claims the hotel chain planned to cut worker
health benefits by early next year unless their boycott came to an end.
Unite HERE’s week-long strike at six Hyatt Hotels in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu comes to an end today. The union hopes to pressure the hotel chain into a fair contract following two years of working without one. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joined more than 200 picketers at the Hyatt Regency on Wacker Drive this morning to close out the strike.
Nearly 1,000 Hyatt employees around Chicago are still protesting today as part of a week-long strike that began on Thursday, drawing attention to a two year struggle of garnering a new contract that addresses working conditions. Workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu also formed picket lines outside their hotels.
