CHICAGO—The All-Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) in Greece issued a statement of international working-class solidarity with the 7,000 Chicago hotel workers and their union, Unite HERE Local 1, as they continue to fight for new contracts covering dozens of the city’s bustling and profitable hotels.
PAME, a Greek labor federation which represents workers across tourism and other sectors, noted that hotel workers around the world “generate the huge profits of hotel and tourism groups” through their labor, yet face “low wages, intensification, staff shortages, exhausting hours and seasonal insecurity.”
The previous contracts covering the Chicago hotel workers expired Aug. 31. According to their union, roughly 46 hotels are without contracts. Among them are the Ritz-Carlton, The Drake, the Hilton on Magnificent Mile, the Hyatt, Sofitel, and the Westin, which are some of the most profitable in the city.
Workers gathered in downtown Chicago over the Labor Day holiday to press their demands and build community support, chanting: “We work too hard to live like this!”
What the workers are fighting for
The workers are demanding wage increases that keep pace with inflation, improved healthcare and pension benefits, stronger protections for immigrant workers, and safer, more sustainable workloads—particularly for housekeepers facing severe physical strain on the job. Many of the workers are immigrant workers under fire from the reactionary political climate stoked by far-right forces in the MAGA movement.
In a 2025 survey conducted by Unite HERE Local 1, they found that one in eight hotel workers had relied on a food pantry in the past year, the union said. A third couldn’t cover housing costs, while one in four had taken out payday or short-term loans.
“I know a number of folks have had to take out payday loans. They’ve been struggling with food insecurity. And really struggling to even, you know, for housing,” said Karen Kent, president of Unite HERE Local 1.
Kent pointed to the “depth of emotion, anger, and frustration” among workers after three months of negotiations failed to produce a deal. “The wage increases haven’t kept up with inflation, and employees are expected to do more than ever, putting them under physical strain,” she said.
A national industry in crisis
The current Chicago fight is unfolding against the backdrop of a hospitality industry bleeding jobs nationwide. Another Unite HERE report found nearly 100,000 fewer people working in hospitality in December 2025 than the year before, with the sector’s jobless rate climbing to 6.1%.
The union attributed the decline directly to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the military occupation of U.S. cities, which it says have made the country “inhospitable” to visitors and immigrant workers alike.
Greek workers fighting the same battle
PAME emphasized that the hospitality struggle is not isolated to the Windy City—it’s the same fight that workers in Greece are also facing.
“In Greece, workers in hotels and tourism are fighting similar battles,” the federation said.
Greek hotel workers are also in the middle of struggling for collective bargaining agreements with wage increases, fixed hours, five-day and eight-hour workdays, guaranteed time off, health and safety measures, and adequate staffing levels that are organized around the protection of workers’ lives and wellbeing.
They are also fighting for substantial protections for seasonal workers and wages that guarantee a decent living year-round—”so that money can be given for health and education, and not for US-NATO-EU wars,” PAME said.
PAME specifically welcomed the Chicago union’s demand for protections for immigrant workers.
“No one should be exposed to threats, discrimination and extortion by employers,” the federation said. “Local and migrant workers belong to the working class, we have a common enemy, the hotel groups and their state, we have common interests, we work and fight together and we must have the same rights. Our strength is our unity!
“PAME stands by your side in your demands and in your fighting decisions,” it said. “Union organization and class struggle are the strength of workers against employer intransigence.”
The Chicago hotel workers’ fight continues as negotiations with the hotel groups remain unresolved. The union warned that after three months of unresolved contract negotiations, the hotel workers could strike at any time and it will have major impacts on the tourist industry in Chicago.
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