Five year strike the longest active strike in US histroy
This is absolutely amazing.
A strong show of defiance, perhaps, but not nearly as impressive as the resolve exhibited daily by former Congress housekeepers Mercedes Ayvar, Imelda Martinez, Ofelia Rubio, Celia Salgado and Maria Sandoval. Each morning at 6 a.m., the five friends arrive at the picket line outside the Congress and march until 7:30 a.m., when they leave for their new jobs at the downtown Sheraton. From 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the women clean 16 rooms each, then return to the Congress to picket from 5 p.m. to 8:40 p.m., before catching one of the final buses leaving downtown.
“There’s been a lot of walking,” a smiling Ayvar said at the rally. “I haven’t sat down in five years.”
The twinkle in her eye suggested she wasn’t planning to do so anytime soon.
If ever you’re in Chicago stay away from the Congress Hotel. It’s amazing that even after these workers went out on strike–after all these years–they never went back. Instead they chose to keep the strike alive at the Congress Hotel.
Related posts:
