Today, WBEZ's Chip Mitchell reports from Chicago's Congress Hotel on the five-year anniversary of the strike, which I covered in our latest feature article. Celia Salgado, an eight-year veteran of the hotel's housekeeping crew when the strike began in 2003, says the dispute is taking a toll on her and her family:
MITCHELL: Salgado says she didn’t think it would be so hard. To help put two daughters through college, she cleans rooms in another hotel and collects a $200 weekly strike benefit from Local 1. She works and pickets 65 hours a week.
SALGADO: Me enfermé...
MITCHELL: She says the stress has contributed to a stomach infection she’s been trying to shake for two years. The strike has taken a toll on her co-workers as well. Most have drifted away. These days just a few dozen take turns picketing.
To hear more stories like Salgado's and celebrate the grit of the UNITE-HERE members, be sure to stop by the Congress at 4 p.m. today as the union commemorates the anniversary. Information about the action is available here.
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