via The Chicago Tribune: Late last week, author and all-around national treasure Barbara Ehrenreich tweeted, “Our current sex harassment discussion is woefully class-skewed. Too much about actresses and not enough about hotel housekeepers.”
Tuesday morning, a group of union leaders, legislators and hotel workers gathered at Chicago’s City Hall to celebrate a newly enacted “Hands Off Pants On” ordinance intended to protect the very housekeepers Ehrenreich mentioned….
(Press) Chicago moves to make hotels ‘No Harvey’ zones for housekeepers
via The Chicago Tribune: Late last week, author and all-around national treasure Barbara Ehrenreich tweeted, “Our current sex harassment discussion is woefully class-skewed. Too much about actresses and not enough about hotel housekeepers.”
Tuesday morning, a group of union leaders, legislators and hotel workers gathered at Chicago’s City Hall to celebrate a newly enacted “Hands Off Pants On” ordinance intended to protect the very housekeepers Ehrenreich mentioned….
(Press) Aldermen approve proposal to protect sexually harassed hotel staff
via Chicago Sun-Times: The ordinance is championed by Rules Committee Chairwoman Michelle Harris (8th) and embraced by Unite Here Local 1 to end what a union leader has called the “sisterhood of silence.”
It would require hotels to provide employees working alone with portable panic buttons — akin to a Medic-Alert worn by senior citizens — that would alert hotel security…
(Press) Chicago hotels would have to give workers ‘panic buttons’ under plan aldermen advance
via Chicago Tribune: Chicago hotels would be required to provide portable “panic buttons” to workers like housecleaners who venture alone into guests’ rooms, under a plan aldermen advanced Monday. Hotels also would need to post sexual harassment policies and promise workers would not face retribution if they reported sexual harassment or assault by guests. Employees would…
(Press) Union Publicizes Sexual Harassment In Chicago’s Hospitality Industry
via NPR:
A survey of hundreds of women working in hotels and casinos indicates widespread instances of assault by male guests. A union is pushing for legislation targeting sexual harassment on the job. (Audio Story)
(Press) Chicago-Area Sexual Harassment Survey Reveals Disturbing Numbers
via CBS Chicago:
The survey found that the industries with the highest levels of harassment are hospitality and food service.
“A national survey says 1 in 3 women are sexually harassed at work. Who here thinks that’s kind of low? We wanted to know about women’s experiences working in Chicago’s hotels and casinos. What we found was shocking.”
Amongst hotel workers, 58 percent of women had been harassed by a guest…
(Press) Unite Here blasts McPier over McCormick Square name
via Crain’s Chicago Business:
Union workers at McCormick Place aren’t too happy with the new name that the agency that runs the convention center campus is trying to give its neighborhood.
That was the message delivered today by Unite Here Local 1 President Karen Kent at an annual convention of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in a crusade to push the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority to reconsider the name McCormick Square for its sprawling Near South Side campus…
(Press) Union Calls For Firing Of ICE Official Over Mundelein Meatpacking Plant Audit
via Progress Illinois:
UNITE HERE says a Chicago official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be fired over an immigration audit at a unionized meat packing plant in Mundelein.
The recent audit at the Ruprecht Company by ICE has led to eight arrests and 36 firings or resignations, according to UNITE HERE, which represents workers at the plant.
On Wednesday, the union release a new video about the audit and its impact on workers at Ruprecht.
Read more: http://progressillinois.com/news/content/2015/11/19/union-calls-firing-ice-official-over-mundelein-meatpacking-plant-audit