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Posted: Friday, 25 September 2009 8:56AM
200 arrested in hotel workers Mag Mile sit-in
Bob Roberts and Steve Miller Reporting
WBBM Newsradio 780
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CHICAGO (WBBM) - Police arrested 200 people who staged a peaceful, rush-hour sit-in Thursday evening on Chicago Avenue in front of the Park Hyatt Hotel, just steps off the Magnificent Mile.
Those arrested and hundreds more were hotel workers expressing outrage over the way Hyatt replaced 100 housekeepers in Boston.
The protest and arrests were well-orchestrated, using ground rules agreed upon in advance by both the Unite Here union, which sponsored the protest, and Chicago Police.
Cedric Harris brought his 11- and 13-year-old children to the protest, so they could see him and his wife, Monica, be arrested.
"I told my kids just like this: This is America," he said. "They have a right to a slice of the American pie. If it means that you have to fight for it -- and this country has a history of fighting -- then you cannot be afraid to stand up and fight."
The firings drew outrage in part because the Hyatt Boston housekeepers trained their replacements, being told they were "summer relief." Harris said if it could happen in Boston, it could happen here.
Contract talks have just begun between the unions representing major downtown Chicago hotels and management. Both Hyatt and industry officials told WBBM that the tactic used in Boston is one they would never use here.
"That issue would not occur here in Chicago," said the chief operating officer of the Hotel Employers Labor Relations Association, Arnie Karr.
Hyatt Corp. issued a statement in which it said, "It is our goal to be the preferred hotel employer," and that Hyatt will continue to offer a wage and benefit package it considers competitive.
"It's important to us that we offer a good package to our employees of pay and benefits because we're in the customer service business," said Hyatt Regency Chicago vice president and managing director John Schafer. "If we've got unhappy people then that's going to reflect on our customers and that's going to be bad for business. It's important to us that we have people who like to come to work each day."
The employers issued a statement in which they said that, despite the lowest downtown hotel occupancy rates since 2002, unionized hotel workers continue to receive a base pay of $30,000 a year plus a pension plan, dental coverage, vacation, holidays, sick days, uniforms, meals, education reimbursement, legal assistance and health insurance fully- funded by employers.
Police said those arrested face citations for blocking a roadway, and could be fined $90 when scheduled to appear in court next month.
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