Berlin Nightclub employees strike for health care

A LGBTQ nightclub in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood was surrounded by community members standing with employees demanding health care Friday night. 

Employees of Berlin Nightclub, located on the Belmont and Sheffield, authorized a strike on July 21. 

UNITE HERE Local 1 represents workers at Berlin as well as employees for over 16,000 hospitality businesses in Chicago and Northwest Indiana. 

The labor union says a majority of Berlin employees initiated the strike Friday night. Workers are asking for a contract that offers health care coverage. 

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UNITED HERE tweeted, "Berlin Nightclub's mission claims to have four core values of ‘care, compassion, creativity, and communication.’ We’re on strike because Berlin is not living up to that mission! We need a contract now!"

The union also said as an LGBTQ institution, Berlin has a responsibility to provide its workers health insurance. 

Berlin Nightclub released the following statement on Saturday: 

"Berlin strives to bring people of all backgrounds and identities together through music, performance, and art that cannot be found anywhere else in Chicago. Since the time that Berlin’s employees organized, we have been constructively working with our employees to reach a contract that is fair to the workers but is also financially responsible.

Through these contract discussions, Berlin has already agreed to many of the union’s highest priority requests, including those involving security and training. On August 2, we received additional proposed terms for this contract from our employees with the next bargaining dates scheduled for August 15 and 28. We were surprised to learn two days later, on August 4, just one hour prior to opening Berlin’s doors, that our employees were going on strike.

This is a disappointment to everyone here at Berlin because we believed we were progressing in our contract discussions. We were blindsided by our employees striking just two days after receiving their additional proposed contract terms and reaching tentative agreement on another proposed contract term. The extremely short notice of this strike resulted in our customers being denied the opportunity to have the amazing night at our club they expected.

To all of our loyal customers, we apologize for this disruption.  We will continue to strive to create the most eclectic, inclusive experiences in the city. To all of our employees, we remain committed to partnering with you in reaching an equitable agreement that works for all of us."