Chicago hotel workers vote 'overwhelmingly' to authorize strike

Workers at dozens of the city's top hotels - including the Palmer House and Sheraton Grand Chicago - voted on Wednesday to authorize a strike later this month as they fight for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The employees will hit the picket lines if a new deal is not struck by Aug. 31, after Unite Here Local 1 members voted "overwhelmingly" - more than 90 percent - in favor of a potential strike, a union source said late Wednesday.

Thirty-one hotels, most of them downtown, would be affected by the work stoppage. The exact number of hotel employees potentially involved in a strike was unclear, though one source put it in the thousands.

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