(Press) O’Hare airport restaurant workers vote to authorize strike
via LA Times: Workers at restaurants, bars and coffee shops at O’Hare International Airport have voted to authorize a strike amid ongoing contract negotiations…
(Press – Video) Chicago hotel workers will have access to panic buttons under new ordinance
via FOX 32: Chicago hotel employees are taking a stand against sexual harassment and indecent exposures by guests. A new law has passed to better protect staff including giving them access to panic buttons.
(Press) Hotel Workers Union Celebrates Anti-Harassment Ordinance
via CBS Chicago: As more allegations of powerful men sexually abusing and harassing women come out, the union representing thousands of Chicago hotel workers is celebrating a new ordinance it says will protect them.
Unite Here Local 1 plans to host a celebration at 9 a.m. Tuesday marking the passage last month of what they refer to as the “Hands Off Pants On” ordinance…
(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)