Chicago Parking Workers Vote by More Than 98 Percent to Authorize a Strike, and a Walkout Could Start as Soon as Sunday
The contract covering parking workers at garages across Chicagoland — including at O'Hare, Midway, hotels and hospitals — expired Saturday. The union says members will vote Monday on the operators' final offer, and it expects that vote to fail.
Chicago's parking garages could go quiet as soon as Sunday. More than 98 percent of the parking workers who cast ballots voted to authorize a strike, NBC Chicago reported Saturday evening, citing Chicago Tribune reporting, and the contract covering the workers expired Saturday, October 31.
The workers are members of Teamsters Local 727. Nearly 1,200 of them, working for parking operators throughout Chicagoland, took the authorization vote, according to the union's own release. They work under a Master Parking Agreement covering 15 operators — among them SP Plus/Metropolis, LAZ Parking, InterPark, ABM and Imperial/Reimagine Parking — who bargain as a group through the Chicago Parking Association. The union says it has filed, or is preparing, unfair labor practice charges alleging refusal to bargain, failure to provide information, unilateral changes, retaliation and unlawful surveillance.
The Teamsters warned a walkout could disrupt parking at O'Hare and Midway airports, major hotels and hospitals across the city, and at Bulls and Bears games, NBC Chicago reported. The operators' side, in a statement LAZ Parking shared with NBC Chicago, said the Chicago Parking Association is negotiating in good faith for an agreement in the mutual interest of the parties, including employees and customers.
An authorization is not a strike: it gives the union the power to call one. According to NBC Chicago, the union said the employers have made a final offer that members will vote on Monday, and a union representative said they expect that vote to fail. No walkout had been called in any of the reporting read Sunday morning.
