Union workers at six Chicago hotels went on strike Friday as the city prepares for the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, according to a news release from local hospitality union Unite Here Local 1.
Room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, bellmen, front desk agents, servers, bartenders and other hotel workers walked off the job after negotiations failed to produce agreements that met their demands, per the release. Karen Kent, president of Unite Here Local 1, told Hotel Dive “hundreds” of workers are on strike across the hotels.
The hotels involved include Millennium Hotel Knickerbocker Chicago, Palmer House a Hilton Hotel, Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, Waldorf Astoria Chicago, The Westin Chicago River North and The Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago, according to Unite Here Local 1.
The strike kicked off roughly two weeks after more than 7,000 Chicago union hotel workers across 46 hotels voted 85% to authorize a strike, calling for better wages and benefits. The vote came after workers’ contracts expired Aug. 31.
The broader contract dispute comes as workers demand “better wages, healthcare benefits, a better pension, civil rights protections and safer workloads,” according to Unite Here Local 1.
The success of Chicago’s hospitality industry “has not translated into financial security for the people who clean its rooms, prepare its meals and welcome its guests,” per the release.
“As Chicago welcomes marathon runners and visitors from around the world, hotel workers are being pushed to the breaking point while greedy hotel honchos cash in,” Karen Kent, president of Unite Here Local 1, said in a Friday statement, noting that Chicago hotel workers “are struggling to pay rent and feed their families.”
According to a 2025 Unite Here Local 1 survey, 32% of workers lacked the money to cover rent or their mortgage during the previous year.
The union could call strikes at additional hotels at any time. If all of the workers who voted to authorize the strike did so, it would represent the largest hotel strike in Chicago history.
The Chicago strike comes after union hotel workers went on strike in Philadelphia and Seattle earlier this year amid the World Cup, with the latter ratifying a new contract with Hilton.
Hilton and Marriott did not reply to a Hotel Dive request for comment by the time of publication on Friday.
