The All Workers Militant Front (PAME), which hundreds of private and public sector trade unions in Greece are affiliated with, expresses its class solidarity with the 7,000 hotel workers in Chicago and their union, UNITE HERE Local 1, in their struggle for collective bargaining agreements with wage increases, healthcare and pension coverage, and protection against exhausting workloads.

Hotel workers are the ones whose daily labor generates the enormous profits of hotel and tourism corporations. Behind record arrivals and profits lie low wages, intensified workloads, staff shortages, exhausting working hours and the insecurity of seasonal employment.

The struggle of Chicago hotel workers concerns us directly. In Greece, workers in hotels and tourism are fighting similar battles. They demand collective agreements with wage increases and their implementation in every workplace, regular working hours, a five-day week and an eight-hour day, guaranteed days off, health and safety measures, adequate staffing, and work organised around the protection of their lives and health.

They are fighting for meaningful protection for seasonal workers and an income that ensures a decent standard of living throughout the year, and for money to be spent on healthcare and education instead of the wars of the US, NATO and the EU.

We particularly salute your demand for the protection of immigrant workers. No one should face threats, discrimination or coercion by employers. Local and immigrant workers belong to the same working class. We share a common enemy, the hotel corporations and the state that serves them. We have common interests; we work and struggle together and must enjoy the same rights. Our unity is our strength!

PAME stands by your side in your demands and your decisions to take action. Union organisation and class struggle are the source of workers’ strength in the face of employers’ intransigence.

Collective agreements with wage increases and rights!
Solidarity with Chicago hotel workers!