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The [Monday] Papers
1. Palmer House Jiltin'.
"Hotels across Chicago were scrambling Monday morning as a downtown hotel strike entered its fourth day. Some guests reported dirty rooms and check-in delays, while managers at some locations pitched in to keep operations running," the Tribune reports.
"Kristian Hulgard, in town from Dallas for the International Manufacturing Technology Show, said it took him eight hours to check into his room at the Palmer House Hilton."
Eight hours?!
"The hotel offered free drinks and food to compensate for the trouble, but once he did get in, around midnight, he discovered the room had not been cleaned."
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Bless Hulgard for his patience:
"'All in all it's not that big a deal,' Hulgard said Monday morning as he waited outside the Loop hotel to board a bus that would take him and his colleagues to McCormick Place for the convention.
Dear sir, it's a big deal!
"But when you've paid $300 a night, you want something like that to work, of course."
That's more like it. And is it really $300 a night to stay at the Palmer House?
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"Guests have to help themselves to clean towels on carts in the hallways, and everything is taking longer, such as the breakfast line, he said. Another conventioneer waiting for the bus said there were people serving breakfast who clearly had never worked as servers before."
It's like Undercover Boss writ large.
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Now here's the important part:
"Thousands of housekeepers, doormen, cooks and other hotel employees have been on strike since early Friday morning at 25 downtown hotels as they negotiate new contracts.
"Their union, UNITE HERE Local 1, called the strike a week after contracts at 30 hotels expired Aug. 31, though it had been warning of a strike for weeks beforehand. About 6,000 workers are covered by the expired contracts."
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And here's the aggravating part:
"The Hilton did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. On Friday, the hotel chain said the strike would have 'minimal impact' on operations."
Fact-check, aisle 1!
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"In addition to the Palmer House, the Hilton hotels where workers are striking include the DoubleTree Magnificent Mile, Hilton Chicago and the Drake hotel. 'We are negotiating with the union in good faith and are confident that we will reach an agreement that is fair to our valued team members and to our hotels,' Paul Ades, senior vice president for labor relations at Hilton, said in an e-mailed statement last week.
"The 25 hotels where workers are striking are listed at chicagohotelstrike.org. [Editor's Note: Link mine!] They include the Hyatt Regency, JW Marriott and Kimpton and Westin brands. The union said workers will be walking picket lines around-the-clock at all the affected hotels until their demand for year-round health insurance is met."
2. Rocky Pot.
"Breakthru Beverage Group, the alcohol wholesale business co-led by Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz, announced plans Monday to invest $9.2 million in CannTrust, a Canadian marijuana producer," the Tribune reports.
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Can taxpayers get some of their money back, then? Clearly the Wirtzes have enough.
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And yet, Rocky Wirtz was so unhappy with his treatment by Rahm that he contributed $200,000 to Paul Vallas's otherwise financially challenged mayoral campaign.
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The Wirtz fortune is incredibly vast. But just like the old joke that banks only lend money to those who don't need it, cities and states only seem to give tax breaks to those who, um, don't need it.
3. Let Them Decorate Cake.
"Wilton Brands, the Naperville-based seller of cake decorating equipment, has agreed to be bought by Dr. August Oetker KB, a private German company that sells baking products and baked goods," the Sun-Times reports.
"Wilton will remain headquartered in Naperville."
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From the press release:
"Dr. Oetker is a German based, privately held, global multibillion dollar industry leader in food and beverage which includes baking products and baked goods. Both companies were family-founded and share a long and rich heritage in baking, with a passion for the industry and the millions of consumers around the world who love to bake."
This is an exit for TowerBrooke Capital Partners; I assume they eviscerated the company to prepare for this sale, but unlike the business reporters in town, no one is paying me to look it up!
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"Wilton Brands was acquired by investment funds managed by TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. in 2009, and under Buchta's leadership has re-focused the business on its baking and food core while successfully divesting non-core businesses. "
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Also from the press release:
"Dr. Oetker is a German based, privately held, global multibillion dollar industry leader in food and beverage which includes baking products and baked goods. Both companies were family-founded and share a long and rich heritage in baking, with a passion for the industry and the millions of consumers around the world who love to bake. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year."
That's funny, they seem to have plagiarized this Daily Herald story:
"Dr. Oetker is an industry leader in food and beverage which includes baking products and baked goods. Both companies were family-founded and share a long heritage in baking, with a passion for the industry and the millions of consumers around the world who love to bake. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year."
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New on the Beachwood . . .
The Political Odds
Updated to reflect recent developments.
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Recall! Caito Foods' Chicken Salad Products
Shipped to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
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From the Beachwood Sports Desk . . .
SportsMonday: Identifying The Culprits
Vic Fangio deserves far more scorn than Mitch Trubisky.
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The White Sox Report: Kopech, Schmopech
Why so glum, South Siders? There have been other setbacks and tragedies. Ahem.
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The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #216: Mack Trade Exposes Bears Narrative
Ryan Pace in his fourth year of trying to win now. Plus: This Year's Surprise Team In The NFL Will Be A Surprise; We Don't Care About College Football Yet; Cubs A Total Mindfuck; Eloy Jimenez And Dylan Cease Working On Defense In Their Backyards; and Onto The Mystics.
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In production . . .
* Rahm Runs Out Notebook Part 1.
* The Weekend In Chicago Rock.
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Pardon our dust . . .
Still cleaning up the remnants of our weekend tech apocalypse, so if anything looks funny to you, besides the usual out-of-whack stuff, we're working on it.
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ChicagoReddit
People who live in Park Ridge, Illinois have you met Harrison Ford? from r/chicago
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ChicagoGram
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ChicagoTube
Mexican Independence Day Parade, Little Village.
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BeachBook
Restoration Restoring Cranberry Slough Back To Original Glory In Forest Preserves' Palos Area.
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It's Prime Time To View Prairie Flowers In The Forest Preserves Of Cook County.
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TweetWood
A sampling.
Racism and anti-Semitism surged in corners of the Web after Trump's election, analysis shows https://t.co/ugFStoMM5n
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) September 10, 2018
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On May 30, @CTGuild requested pay data from @Tronc. We have yet to receive this information. It is Sept. 6.
— Alicia Ramirez 🐐 (@aliciak2010) September 6, 2018
The funny part? On May 31, Tronc filed an unfair labor practice against @latguild for failing to respond to requests for data in a timely manner. https://t.co/f4WnUpGQIz
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QB Aaron Rodgers has a knee injury & his return is questionable. #CHIvsGB
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) September 10, 2018
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The Beachwood Tronc Line: Check mate.
Posted on September 10, 2018
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