Striking Hotel Workers Launch New ''Don't be Left in the Dark'' Ad Campaign; O'Hare Airport Ads Target Chicago Visitors

CHICAGO | When Tamara Buck and her daughter made their first trip to Chicago, they were shocked to discover striking workers picketing outside of their hotel. "I never would have booked at the Congress Plaza Hotel if I knew there was a strike," recalls Buck, a mother of two from Franklin, Pennsylvania. "The rugs were dirty, the paint was chipping off the walls--why didn't anyone warn us?"

UNITE HERE Local 1, Chicago's 15,000-member hospitality workers' union, will reach out to travelers through new large-format ads at O'Hare airport. The backlit ads read "Visiting Chicago? Don't be Left in the Dark." The ads also include a quote from Mrs. Buck and a link to website of the striking Congress Hotel workers.

The ads will run through the busy holiday travel season as part of an ongoing effort by the hotel workers to protect Chicago's visitors. Many travelers have unknowingly booked at the Congress Plaza Hotel in downtown Chicago, where workers have been on strike since June 2003.

"Since the Congress Hotel refuses to tell their customers the truth about the strike, we decided to go straight to the traveling public," says Clare Fauke, UNITE HERE Local 1 spokesperson. "Chicago visitors spend billions of dollars every year and deserve to know the truth."