Hilton workers in Chicago start 3-day strike

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

CHICAGO (AP) - Hundreds of Hilton Chicago Hotel workers started a three-day strike Saturday that union officials say is in protest of the hotel chain's efforts to "lock workers into cheap recession contracts."

Unite Here Local 1 spokeswoman Annemarie Strassel told The Associated Press workers began striking in Chicago early Saturday and won't return to their jobs until early Tuesday. The union represents about 600 workers at the Hilton Chicago downtown.

Strassel said the employees have joined striking workers in San Francisco, who went out Wednesday, and in Honolulu, who went out Thursday. The Chicago workers include housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks, bell staff and food servers.

"Hilton wants to lock workers into cheap recession contracts even as the hotels rebound," she said early Sunday in a phone interview. "Workers simply want a share in the recovery."


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20101017/D9ITB8A00.html

[TBF]

1. Meanwhile my local democratic club meets at the Hilton Garden Inn

this Tues. for a campaign event. All too often these days - no solidarity for the strikers :-(

[Ian David]

2. Sleep with the right people.

http://www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org/

Don't get caught in a bad hotel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-79pX1IOqPU


Bad Hotel: Reprise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xPCuDsr0tQ&feature=related

[designforce]

3. Strikers never get support here but...

I belong to a union but many of my coworkers do not. We have a bargaining agreement which benefits all. What makes me angry is that when the non-members get screwed over who do they run to? Right, the union and we always help. Our dues paying members are getting a little tired of this situation and we will be pushing to end assistance to non-members, may be harsh but it may be the only thing to wake them up so they realize that the things they enjoy by our efforts did not come freely or easily and they must participate or be denied.

I wish we Americans were more like our French brothers and sisters, love this headline:

France seeks to calm fuel fears as strike momentum builds

French Fos-Lavera strike blocks 61 ships

Petroplus Says Refineries in France, Switzerland Affected by Labor Strikes

And workers in Belgium are not afraid:

Belgium rail workers are striking to protest a deadlock in negotiations with Belgium's SNCB rail company over an unpaid bonus to workers.

I guess we are just to far gone to recover, or are we?

[Omaha Steve]

4. Federal law says you must provide for the eligible non-members

That doesn't mean you have to represent them very well! Right to work (for less) law sucks.

[lunatica]

5. In California everyone who works where there's a union gets union fees deducted

from their paycheck. When you join the union you pay a little more. That's fair in my view since everyone across the board benefits from what unions do.

[designforce]

6. It is just frustrating

Being trapped in a "right to work" state is frustrating. Being surrounded by people who buy into the propaganda put out on the airwaves makes it even worse. I know we have to help, suppose I was just blowing off steam, but if we continue down this path, then we will all be working for nothing, shopping at the company store and dying at ever earlier ages. We are being beaten into submission by the right wing echo chamber and the uneducated.

Suppose I am looking for hope in an ever hopeless situation.

[Imagevision]

7. Hey! call Paris...