Members of American Airlines’ mechanics union rejected a contract proposal and authorized union leaders to call a strike, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) said. Get the full story »
Filed under: Labor
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Aug. 24, 2010 at 4:02 p.m.
Filed under: Hotels, Jobs/employment, Labor, Outsourcing, Unions, Updated, Work culture Union, clergy join forces on Hyatt boycott
Hyatt Hotels Corp. faced the wrath of religious leaders Tuesday as hotel workers called for a boycott of three Hyatt branded Chicago hotels.
“I think it is immoral. It’s immoral. It’s immoral for Hyatt to be treating its workers the way they are treating them: A year without a contract,” Rev. Calvin Morris boomed into a microphone outside Hyatt’s downtown headquarters. “We’re going to boycott these hotels, and we do so with good conscience.”
The world’s largest group of Jewish Clergy, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, has pledged its support for the worker-led boycotts, which with the addition Tuesday of Hyatt Regency Chicago, Hyatt O’Hare and Park Hyatt in Chicago, now number 10 at Hyatt properties across the country. Approximately 250 rabbis, cantors and other Jewish leaders have also signed a pledge in support of the boycotts. Get the full story »
Jewish leaders pledge support for Hyatt boycott
With support from hundreds of Jewish leaders, Chicago Hyatt workers are calling for a boycott of “one or more” Hyatt hotels in the Chicago area, according to Unite Here, the hotel workers’ union.
The properties will join seven other boycotts announced by the union at Hyatt properties. The union would not say which hotels are planned for the boycott, which is scheduled to be announced Tuesday afternoon in front of Hyatt Global Headquarters. Get the full story »
Hilton workers OK strike at 4 Chicago hotels
Hilton Hotels workers in Chicago voted Thursday night to authorize a strike at the Chicago Hilton, Hilton O’Hare, the Palmer House Hilton and the Drake, according to Unite Here Local 1 and Local 450.
The union said 96 percent of its members voted in favor of a strike, which authorizes the bargaining committee to call a strike, if necessary. They are the third group of hotel workers in nine months to hold such a vote in the wake of unsettled contract negotiations between Chicago hotels and the union. Get the full story »
Construction strike skews Illinois jobless numbers
Illinois lost 20,200 jobs in July, but the numbers look worse than they are because of last month’s construction strike that shut down projects across the state.
The 19-day work stoppage ended around July 20 but not before the Illinois Department of Employment Security took its survey of the labor force. Get the full story »
Workplace fatalities decline with number of jobs
The number of workers who died on the job fell by 17 percent last year to the lowest level in nearly two decades, as workers logged fewer hours during the recession, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The 4,340 workplace fatalities recorded in 2009 was the smallest total since the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began tracking the data in 1992. It’s the second straight year that fatal work injuries have reached a historic low, following a 10 percent drop in 2008. Get the full story »
Chicago Hilton workers to take strike vote
Unionized Hilton workers in Chicago will vote this week on whether to authorize a strike, making them the third group of workers in nine months to hold such a vote in the wake of unsettled contract negotiations between Chicago hotels and the union.
The vote authorizes the union’s negotiating committee to call a strike if it is deemed necessary. In October, Chicago hotel workers voted to authorize a strike at five downtown Starwood hotels affecting 1,500 workers, followed by a vote last month covering 1,600 Hyatt hotel workers, who also agreed to authorize a strike. So far, none have called for a strike. Get the full story »
Aug. 18, 2010 at 8:14 a.m.
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Filed under: China, Consumer electronics, International, Labor, Work culture iPhone factory add nets, rallies after suicides
Following a string of suicides at its Chinese factories, Foxconn Technology Group raised workers’ wages and installed safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers. Now the often secretive manufacturer of the iPhone and other electronics is holding rallies for its workers to raise morale at the heavily regimented factories.
The outreach to workers shows how Foxconn has been shaken by the suicides and the bad press they have attracted to the normally publicity shy company. The latest suicide — the 12th this year — occurred August 4 when a 22-year-old woman jumped from her factory dormitory in eastern Jiangsu province. Get the full story »
UAW halts vote on giveback at Indy GM plant
The United Auto Workers union has decided not to go ahead with a vote on a new wage-cutting contract for a General Motors Co. stamping plant in Indianapolis facing sale.
JD Norman Industries of Addison, Ill., had asked for pay cuts as a condition for buying the plant. Barring a sale, GM has said it will close the plant next year. Get the full story »
Brinks Hofer lays off 18 more staffers
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione laid off 18 people Tuesday, including seven lawyers, its second round of cutbacks in eight months.
Fifteen of the 18 were based in the home office in Chicago, said Gary Ropski, president of the firm that specializes in intellectual property law. The layoffs affected 4.5 percent of the firm’s workforce of about 400. Get the full story »
Strike vote threatens to close British airports
Ground staff at British airport operator BAA have voted to strike in a dispute over pay, the union Unite said, a move which could shut many of the country’s busiest airports.
Unite said Thursday that its members at BAA, owned by Spanish group Ferrovial, had voted 3-1 to walk out. Get the full story »
New Illinois law protects workers owed wages
Employers who try to skip out on paying wages to their workers will face new fines and possible jail time under a measure Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Friday.
The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, establishes a new small claims division in the Illinois Department of Labor where workers could try to recoup wages of $3,000 or less.
Chicago Hyatt workers authorize strike
In the wake of still-unsettled labor disputes, union workers from Chicago-area Hyatt hotels voted Thursday to authorize a strike.
The vote does not mean workers will strike. It authorizes the union’s negotiating committee to call a strike if it is deemed necessary. This was the second such vote since negotiations began. In October, Chicago hotel workers voted to authorize a strike at five downtown Starwood hotels. So far, they have not called for a strike.
Union contracts covering 6,000 workers at 31 hotels in downtown Chicago expired Aug. 31, and the two sides have been unable to reach a settlement, according to Unite Here Local 1.
On Thursday, members of Unite Here Local 1 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Park Hyatt, Hyatt McCormick Place and Hyatt O’Hare voted by a 92 percent majority to authorize a strike if necessary.
While the contracts affect workers at several hotel chains, Unite Here has focused its efforts on Chicago-based Hyatt and the Pritzker family, which controls the chain, holding them up as an example of management that it claims is using the economy as an excuse to take advantage of workers.
Hyatt has said that negotiations are best left for the negotiating table.
Jobless claims fell by 11,000 last week
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly more than expected last week, government data showed on Thursday, offering a ray of hope for the anemic labor market recovery. Get the full story »
