CHICAGO, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Workers at the Hilton Chicago struck over the weekend to protest the company's debt deal with the Federal Reserve, their union said.
The deal, under which the hotel chain is buying back millions of dollars in debt at a steep discount, has angered Unite Here Local 1, which has been in contract talks with Hilton for more than a year, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.
"They got all this money from the federal government, and yet they won't give us a contract," said Gloria King, one of the workers picketing the hotel.
The Chicago workers are joining Unite Here locals that walked out in Honolulu and San Francisco last week. The union says hotels are using the economy as an excuse to offer proposals that would lock workers into a "permanent recession."
Unite Here Local 1 spokeswoman Annemarie Strassel said all Hilton employees expect to return to work Monday.
Contracts for 8,000 hotel workers in the Chicago area expired in August 2009.
Hilton said employees receive benefits and wages that are "competitive," including fully paid health insurance, and a union proposal to increase wages 7 percent per year is untenable.
