Ordinance Seeks to Bring Chicago Hotel Workers Back to the Job

To help turnaround the economic turmoil hotels have experienced during the coronavirus pandemic, Chicago’s City Council late last year proposed an ordinance to help hotel workers, including housekeepers, return to work. However, hotel executives are opposing the ruling because they don’t approve of the procedures it mandates, WBBM News Radio reports.

Chicago hotel workers have asked city officials to help them return to work so they can support their families. The pending ordinance—Hotel Worker Right to Return to Work—is currently at the Committee on Workforce Development. It calls for Chicago hotel employers to honor their former workers’ right to return to work by seniority and before hiring new workers. Employers say this practice is misguided and burdensome for the hotel industry. For instance, they say the ordinance calls for hiring previous workers to fill positions that they may have no experience in instead of hiring a new employee with applicable skills.

The regulation also mandates daily housekeeping for guest rooms. Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association which represents hotel owners, told WBBM this mandate violates the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.

“They say housekeeping should only be offered when specifically requested by guests, because common sense tells you if there’s a guest living or staying in that room, why would we send a housekeeper into that room to spend 30 minutes, an hour cleaning that room and potentially exposing them,” Jacobson said.

Other hotel employers agree the mandated procedures also go against the Chicago Department of Public Health guidance, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. They are also asking for extra health protections for hotel workers such as moving them up on the COVID-19 vaccination list.

Jacobson told WBBM, the Chicago Sun-Times, and WTTW-TV that the employee union, Unite Here, and the hotel owners association should team up to pressure elected officials to make hotel workers a priority to get vaccinated quickly and safely since they are not included in  Illinois’ Phase 1B essential worker category.

“We should be focused on working together to advance two of the industry’s top priorities: getting our workers vaccinated and being able to safely resume larger meetings and events within our hotels,” the Illinois Hotels and Lodging Associate said in a statement sent to WTTW.