As the city reels from an announcement on Friday, July 19 of 2,100 job cuts in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), documents uncovered by UNITE HERE Local 1 indicate that 200 to 300 more lunchroom workers may be on the chopping block. These cuts would add to the 163 lunchroom layoffs that already have been announced. Further layoffs would jeopardize a long-awaited new fresh food program that CPS plans to launch this fall.
On July 2, Gate Gourmet workers held an assembly at O’Hare Airport to win respect and a fair contract at work. While the airline industry has recovered from the economic recession, workers who prepare the food and beverages travelers receive while flying are still making sacrifices.
Gate Gourmet workers received a wage cut in 2005 due to the financial toll the economic recession took on the company. In 2002, a cook, for example, made $10.00 an hour. Today, they make $9.50 an hour. Additionally in 2002, a dishwasher made $8.45 an hour. Today, they make $8.50 – just minimum wage. Workers have not had raises since December 31, 2011.
“Gate Gourmet’s business is coming back, but it seems like they want me and my coworkers to be locked into the recession,” said Bryana Cato, utility worker at Gate Gourmet. “We’re tired of being disrespected – now it’s time to speak out.”
The union, which represents 900 Gate Gourmet workers in three different kitchens at O’Hare Airport, has been negotiating with the company since May 2012. Their last contract became amendable on December 31, 2012.
UNITE HERE Local 1 members throughout Chicago — from Chicago Public Schools, Westin River North, Park Hyatt, Chicago State University, Hudson News at O’Hare and Midway Airports, and more — came out to support their Gate Gourmet brothers and sisters.
As school layoffs for Chicago Public School workers loom, CPS lunch ladies are traveling to Philadelphia to stand with thousands of fired Philadelphia public school workers. The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) announced layoffs of thousands. Lunchroom workers in Chicago and families in Philadelphia say this is a mistake, saying this increases the risk of violence in schools. Together, they are calling on the City of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania to act on funding proposals to protect Philadelphia schoolchildren.
Of the more than 3,000 SDP employees to be laid off July 1 due to the school funding crisis, the largest single group of laid-off workers is over 1,200 Student Safety Staff (alternately known as Noon-time Aides). In response today, clergy, parents, students and School District employees all spoke to the need to prioritize the safety of every Philadelphia student at a press conference outside Philadelphia’s City Hall.
“What’s happening in Philadelphia is a national tragedy and is putting children at risk who already struggle with violence and poverty,” said CPS lunchroom attendant Louise Babbs, who is travelling to Philadelphia to support laid-off workers there. “We have the responsibility as parents ourselves and as the people who feed these children every single day in our schools to stand up to make sure they’re safe.”
Student Safety Staff are responsible for maintaining order in lunchrooms and hallways – two places where student safety is often at risk. In a recent report on ABC’s Nightline (aired on 5/30/2013), the principal of Strawberry Mansions High School, Linda Cliatt-Wyman described lunchtime as “the most scary part of the day for me,” remarking on the fact that at lunch time all the students are gathered in one place.
“Every day we are more than just safety staff,” Migdalia Lopez, a student safety staff member at Bodine High School, says. “We have to act as counselors, nurses, and even social workers sometimes. We try to do our best because we care so much about the students.”
A report released last week by UNITE HERE, based on surveys of 434 SDP employees, found that 40% of those surveyed indicated that they had recently witnessed a violent incident where there was not enough student safety staff present to address the situation.
The Student Safety Staff’s primary goal is to keep Philadelphia’s students out of danger. But, many Safety Staff understand that they are also an integral part of the community within Philadelphia’s schools.
With the 10th anniversary of the Congress Hotel strike approaching, UNITE HERE Local 1, the union representing Chicago’s hospitality workers, announced the end of strike. It is widely recognized as the world’s longest strike and has received support in a broad segment of the community.
On June 15, 2003, Father’s Day that year, 130 members (100% of the workers) of UNITE HERE walked out on strike after the hotel unilaterally reduced their wages, froze their health care contributions, and demanded the right to subcontract out all the work to minimum wage subcontracted workers. The strikers have picketed regularly ever since and held mass rallies over the years. Prominent political leaders including U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Governor Pat Quinn, President of Cook County Toni Preckwinckle, and numerous others have walked the line in support of the workers.
An overwhelming majority of Congress strikers are immigrants to the United States and showed how low wage workers could lead the fight to raise the standards for hospitality workers and other low wage workers.
When the Congress strikers went out on strike the standard wage for room attendants was $8.83 per hour. The city wide standard for room attendants is now $16.40 an hour. Congress hotel room attendants still make $8.83 per hour.
“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. The boycott has effectively dramatically reduced the hotel’s business. The hotel treats their workers and customers equally poor and the community knows it. There is no more to do there. The reclusive owner lives in Geneva and Tel Aviv and hasn’t been to Chicago since the strike started. We don’t see getting a contract here, and we have many more battles to fight for economic justice,” said UNITE HERE Local 1 President Henry Tamarin.
The Union has found jobs for over 60 strikers over the years and is looking for more. It has made an unconditional offer to return to work on behalf of the strikers, but it is unclear whether any strikers will choose to.
UNITE HERE Local 1 and Local 450 have reached a contract settlement with Hilton Hotels preempting the expiration of current contracts, which expire on August 31, 2013. The agreement covers over 600 workers from the Drake, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago Hilton, and Hilton O’Hare. Hilton is the first major hotel employer to step forward to reach a settlement with workers, presenting a path forward for hotel workers and other hotel companies in Chicago.
The new five year agreement improves job security and provides economic improvements for hotel workers and their families. Hilton workers are among over 6,000 hotel workers in Chicago and area suburbs whose contracts are set to expire this year. The settlement with Hilton is a departure from the last round of protracted citywide negotiations that lasted two years.
“This is a positive step for the hotel industry in which Hilton is leading,” said UNITE HERE Local 1 President Henry Tamarin. “We’re coming off very strong contracts from 2009, and this is a continuation of a decade of work to achieve middle class jobs for hotel workers in the City.”
A tentative agreement has been reached with Starwood Hotels, and workers at Hyatt hotels have been without a contract since August 31, 2009. Since that time, Hyatt workers have taken numerous actions, including strikes and the launch of a global boycott in response to unsafe working conditions for hotel housekeepers and Hyatt’s practice of subcontracting jobs.
“It’s refreshing that we’ve been able to reach an agreement without a lengthy battle. Hyatt workers have been without a contract for four years,” said Flavio Gonzalez, Hilton server. “Now, in Hyatt’s hometown, Hilton has settled before our contract even expired. Hyatt has a lot to learn from Hilton.”
In the last decade, hotel workers who are members of UNITE HERE Local 1 have made significant gains in wages and benefits. Workers receive low-cost, high-quality healthcare, which is free for individuals and only $30 a month for families. Chicago housekeepers went from making just $8.83 an hour in 2002 to $16.40 an hour today.
Just weeks after food service workers at O’Hare Airport released “Putting Sustainability on the Table: Airport Workers’ Vision for $3 Billion of Food and Drink at O’Hare”—a report in which they made recommendations to the City of Chicago on sustainable food concessions at the country’s second-busiest airport—the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) has announced a new Green Concessions Policy.
A massive rally on March 27, 2013, united people across Chicago who oppose the City’s plan to close schools, expand charters and eliminate good, middle class jobs. Thousands of people flooded the streets of downtown Chicago and 127 parents, students, school workers and community members were arrested. The protest was sponsored by UNITE HERE Local 1, SEIU Local 1, the Grassroots Education Movement and the Chicago Teachers Union.