Chicago Hotel Workers Strike at 25 Sites (1)

Thousands of Chicago hotel workers initiated a strike at 25 properties on Sept. 7 in a coordinated effort targeting several employers.

The strike involves properties owned by Marriott, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton, Millennium, Wyndham, and others.

Strikers include housekeepers, cooks, bellmen, servers, and “basically every major hospitality function,” UNITE HERE Local 1 spokesman Elliott Mallen said.

Raises and year-round health-care coverage for workers who are laid off in slow seasons are the main sticking points in labor contract negotiations, Mallen said.

Paul Ades, a vice president for labor relations at Hilton, whose Chicago properties include the Drake Hotel, said the ...