Catherwood LibraryILR School

Three days after the expiration of a previous contract and a union strike deadline (see WIT for July 25, 2002), Illinois Governor George Ryan continues to hold together the fractious talks for a new contract for 7,300 hotel workers employed at thirty Chicago-area hotels (see WIT for Aug. 13, 2002). With the area?s largest convention of the year set to bring 120,000 visitors and $221 million to the city starting on Wednesday, Governor Ryan has been pushing both Local 1 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union and the Hotel Employer Labor Relations Association to reach a settlement. The hotels made a ?final? offer last week including a $3.57 raise over the next five year, and a reduction in the cost of family health care coverage to $45 per month, which the union rejected as falling far short of its bargaining goals of $18.15 per hour and free family health coverage paralleling the its New York City hotel industry.