UNITE-HERE Local 1 President Henry Tamarin equated the latest anniversary of the Congress Hotel strike to a "family reunion." That seems a pretty apt metaphor for the longest running strike in American history. Every summer, labor supporters descend on the once-historic Chicago hotel in support of the now 60 workers who have walked the picket line daily for seven agonizing years.

Yesterday, hundreds marched in front of the Congress to protest the same grievances that led 115 staff members -- room attendants, cooks, bartenders, telephone operators, and others -- to walk off the job in the summer of 2003.  Specifically, Albert Nasser, the globetrotting textile tycoon who operates the hotel, won't pay increases in health and welfare premiums, won't guarantee raises for the remainder of the contract, and won't raise base salaries above $8.83 an hour, almost $6 dollars less than the citywide average. Local 1 communications director Annemarie Strassel tells us that the two sides come to the bargaining table about once every year. In each of their meetings since the strike began, management has refused to offer one additional penny to the remaining union workers.

When Efrain Cortina and his wife Leticia went on strike in 2003, he admits that he didn't think the action would last longer than two or three months. He's since taken a second job at a Tootsie Roll factory just to put food on the table. But he still believes in the cause. "I knew were fighting for justice [and] for a better salary for our workers," he told us yesterday. Watch:

Union officials say $700,000 worth of business has been diverted from the Congress as a result of their actions. It's certainly tarnished the hotel's image locally, generating the ire of Barack Obama, Gov. Pat Quinn, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, and Democratic Cook County Board President candidate Toni Preckwinkle (who was in attendance yesterday).

Nonetheless, the hotel continues to survive.  Most of the business comes from tourists who book their stays online or with a travel broker and are unaware that the strike is taking place. And while Ald. Rick Munoz (22nd Ward) wrote a city ordinance last year requiring hotels affected by a work stoppage to alert guests when they reserve rooms, that measure was sent back to the Finance Committee after a heated floor debate and is now considered dead.  Meanwhile, the mayorally-appointed Plan Commission approved an expansion proposal last year that will allow the Congress to add four floors to its southwest portion along Harrison Street and one floor on the side near Michigan and Congress.

At the conclusion of the rally yesterday, Illinois' own Rep. Luis Gutierrez recalled how he helped raise funds and provisions for the Congress workers before the strike even began. He also joined Tamarin in disparaging Nasser and the obstinate Congress owners. Watch it:

Local 1, who is simultaneously engaged in a bitter city-wide contract dispute and fighting a battle at the newly-reopened Blackstone Hotel, has no plans to call off the strike. And the Congress "anniversary" serves as a valuable reminder to hotel operators across Chicago of the union's resolve. "Every year we show up at this property to show who we are, what we're made of, and what we're prepared to do," said Tamarin.

"We'll be here," added Cortina, "until the owner of the hotel signs the contract."