Hotel Strike in Chicago Ends After 10 Years

Employees offer unconditional return to work

A 10-year strike at the Congress Plaza hotel in downtown Chicago -- believed to be the longest hotel strike in the world --has ended. A attorney for the hotel said Unite Here Local 1, the union representing cleaning and maintenance workers, has offered an unconditional return to work as of midnight Wednesday.

The union confirmed Thursday morning that it is ending the strike.

"The decision to end the Congress strike was a hard one, but it is the right time for the union and the strikers to move on," Unite Here Local 1 President Henry Tamarin said in a statement. "The boycott has effectively and dramatically reduced the hotel's business. … There is no more to do there."

Comments

[Aresen]

Unite Here Local 1 President Henry Tamarin said in a statement. "The boycott has effectively and dramatically reduced the hotel's business. ... There is no more to do there."

I am sure that 10 years on the picket line did wonders for the workers.

[Invisible Finger]

Probably why the strike ended. The last striker finally found another job. (Notice I said "striker" and not "picketer" as the picketers were likely sub-minimum wage hirelings.)

On the other hand, calling your hotel "Congress" invites a certain parasite class.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Why hire these people back?

[Voros McCracken]

I'm guessing they don't have a choice.

[Bones]

Did it really decrease the hotel's business? How is that measured? And if it did, NEVER hire the union again. They consider it a success when the company they presumably want to work for suffers.

[Live Free or Diet]

Ten years striking? Sounds like the hotel doesn't need them.

[Bean Counter]

"The boycott has effectively and dramatically reduced the hotel's business."

That pretty much says it all. There is a total disconnect between union mentality and economic reality. Only a union rep could think that pushing his employer to the brink of extinction is some kind of a "Victory".