Hundreds of protesters marked the sixth anniversary of a strike over labor conditions at The Congress Plaza Hotel and Convention Center yesterday, stretching a picket line down a block-long stretch of South Michigan Avenue.

On June 15, 2003, almost six months after their contracts expired, workers at the Congress Hotel went on strike. Union organizers say hotel management cut wages, stopped paying employee health-care premiums and demanded the right to subcontract its unionized workforce.

Yesterday's rally was both a celebration of the strike's persistence and a lament of stalled negotiations with hotel owners and representatives. Among the strikers' supporters were Gov. Pat Quinn, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and aldermen Bob Fioretti and Ricardo Munoz. Each was present and spoke at the protest.

"This hotel has not treated its workers right," Quinn yelled from a podium between Michigan Avenue traffic and the hotel's lower east floors. "We will have justice."

Inside the hotel, Congress attorney Peter Andjelkovich defended management's position. He declined to list any concessions his client might have made during negotiations, but he said that the hotel's compensation was in line with that of others in Chicago.

"We've gone within parameters of other union contracts with hotels throughout the city," Andjelkovich said. "No one wants a strike. This is the union's choice."

He compared hotel workers' demands to those of automobile and airline unions, arguing that concessions granted by leaders in those industries ultimately hurt them. The hotel workers' strike is part of a similar movement to bend the tourism industry to unions' demands, Andjelkovich said.

"It's a message to other hotels to capitulate to their demands or face this kind of work stoppage," he said.

Andjelkovich estimated that about 130 workers went on strike in 2003, and that since then, about 30 have crossed the picket line to return to work at the Congress. The hotel has compensated them according to their existing contract and hired temporary workers to fill the void, he said.

Union organizers say 65 strikers remain active picketers, and they are just one force pressuring the hotel. Yesterday, it appeared that many of the protesters were not strikers, but instead fellow union members and hotel workers from around the country, especially Indiana.

Also, Last month, Alderman Munoz (D-22) reintroduced legislation in the City Council that would require hotels to notify potential guests of a strike.

Henry Tamarin, president of Unite Here Local 1, said he would welcome the ordinance. His union represents about 15,000 hospitality workers in Chicago.

"When customers unknowingly book at a hotel that is on strike, it leaves a black eye on our city," he said. "We have an exciting opportunity to bring the Olympics here, and that by itself will bring visitors from around the world. That makes this even more important."

Leticia Cortina, a banquet server at the Congress Hotel before she went on strike, said she is heartened by the showing of support from politicians and fellow workers. She said she found other work about five months after she left the Congress, but that she still pickets in front of the hotel's entrance five days a week.

Six years is not too long to wait for justice, she said.

"It's not time to give up," she said, "not until we win a good contract."