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Eight months after a crippling Chicago hotel workers strike, Hyatt has filed a federal lawsuit against the employees union, seeking to allow its chefs to keep a hand in food preparation usually done by cooks.
The issue boils down to this: Can a chef, who holds a management position, remove a tray of burning quiche from the oven even though the work is assigned to union cooks?
The answer, apparently, is only in the event of a true quiche emergency.
The lawsuit, filed last week on behalf of the Hyatt Regency Chicago, seeks to resolve conflicting rulings over how much latitude chefs can have in preparing and plating dishes served at the hotel.
UNITE HERE Local 1, which represents thousands of housekeepers, doormen, cooks and other employees at Chicago hotels, brought two separate arbitration actions against Hyatt for hundreds of alleged incidents where management performed employee tasks.
A spokeswoman for UNITE HERE did not respond to requests for comment.
In a 2018 decision, an arbitrator sided with the hotel in 53 of 61 incidents, noting specifically that “chefs have been performing cooking and food prep duties for many years as a normal part of their job description.” Many of the incidents occurred during a busy convention, a hotel “emergency” where management is allowed to assist employees, the arbitrator ruled.
But in March, a different arbitrator looking at more than 200 other alleged examples of management performing employee tasks, ruled a number of the food preparation incidents violated the collective bargaining agreement.
Those violations ranged from a chef pouring soup from an industrial cook pot into serving kettles to a chef prepping a storage area at Stetson’s restaurant for a pest control application.
Then there was the February 2018 incident, where a sous chef emptied an oven full of quiche — a job normally performed by union cooks — in an effort to prevent the delicate pies from burning. The hotel said keeping the egg and vegetable concoction from turning black was an “emergency,” but the arbitrator found the chef’s testimony to be “unconvincing.”
In its lawsuit, Hyatt said the “inconsistency” between the two arbitration rulings makes it impossible to direct chefs on the scope of their job responsibilities.
“The hotel has filed an action to reaffirm its legitimate work practices and commitment to its colleagues,” Michael D’Angelo, Hyatt’s vice president of labor relations, said in an emailed statement.
Both arbitration rulings seemed to call out management for straying into housekeeping and other menial chores, but last year, many Chicago hotels had no choice.
Thousands of Chicago hotel workers went on strike in September after a five-year collective bargaining agreement expired. The strike affected 26 hotels at its peak, with workers banging drums and marching in front of the Hyatt Regency and other properties, seeking improved wages and benefits.
During the strike, management at a number of Chicago hotels pitched in on everything from room cleaning to bellhop services, minimizing disruption to guests.
Hyatt reached a new five-year collective bargaining agreement with the union in October, ending the strike at its three Chicago hotels: the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place and Park Hyatt Chicago.
Twitter @RobertChannick