Progress Illinois

When 115 service workers at the Congress Hotel in downtown Chicago voted unanimously to strike in 2003, nobody expected their action to drag on for very long. After all, the workers requested nothing more than the standard wages and benefits enjoyed by the employees of other hotels in the region. Instead, textile tycoon and hotel operator Albert Nasser neglected to negotiate and cut wages an additional seven percent in 2002. In the years since, hotel management hasn't budged. Neither have the workers, who still man the picket line every day, fighting for a just wage, publicly shaming the hotel, and earning a lowly $225 each week in striker’s benefits. (Get the full backstory here.)

In what has unfortunately become an annual summertime rite for Chicago's progressive community, hundreds of supporters showed solidarity with the workers by joining their march outside the hotel yesterday afternoon, marking the sixth anniversary of the strike's beginning. Among the crowd was Gov. Pat Quinn and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. The potential U.S. Senate candidate addressed the demonstrators first, calling the labor dispute "a debacle" that has as "gone on long enough." Watch it:

Quinn followed, declaring that "we've got to make sure the people of Illinois ... believe in the workers of Illinois":

It's been a busy year for the Congress employees and organizers for UNITE-HERE Local 1. Annemarie Stassel, communications specialist for Local 1, told Curtis Black of the Community Media Workshop that strikers have held 500 meetings with "political leaders, convention planners, and others" in the past six months alone. The union estimates they've also diverted $700,000 worth of business from the hotel during that period. And Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward) reintroduced a "Right to Know" bill that would require area hotels to notify customers of a "prolonged strike" before making reservations. Forty-two aldermen have already signed on as co-sponsors.

But the hotel managers have still refused to meet with union officials at any point in the past year. They've even attempted to expand. In January 2008, the owners petitioned the Chicago Plan Commission to approve the addition of several floors on their Michigan Avenue building, which would accommodate a swimming pool, health club, restaurant, and about 56 hotel rooms. The commission, not wanting to violate the strike or reward poor management, broke with the Daley administration and rejected the proposal. The Congress followed up with a lawsuit, alleging that the move was illegal and a circuit court judge agrees. David Roeder from the Sun-Times has more:

Under orders from a circuit judge, a city agency has scheduled a hearing on whether the union-defying Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 S. Michigan, gets a zoning permit to expand.

Judge Sophia Hall ruled the Chicago Plan Commission illegally denied a zoning change for the hotel. Obeying Hall's order of last week, the commission is scheduled to reconsider the proposal Thursday.

Alds. Munoz, Toni Preckwinkle, Bob Fioretti, and Joe Moore -- all in attendance at yesterday's march -- told Roeder they would refuse any zoning change for the hotel. We'll have more coverage of this showdown later in the week.