Striking University of Illinois Hospital workers claim they’re paid less than minimum wage

Complaints filed with the city allege dozens of University of Illinois Hospital employees are being paid less than the city minimum wage. | Sun-Times file

Striking workers at the University of Illinois Hospital filed complaints Thursday with the city claiming 156 workers are being paid below minimum wage.

Twenty complaints filed with the Office of Labor Standards allege minimum wage ordinance violations at the hospital, a city spokesman confirmed.

The workers covered in the complaints are paid less than $14 an hour — the city’s required minimum wage for companies with with 21 or more employees, according to Adrian Rojas, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents the workers.

A spokeswoman for their employer, the University of Illinois at Chicago, didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

The workers mentioned in the complaints are among 3,700 hospital workers — all SEIU members — who went on strike Monday to gain better pay and COVID-19 protections.

They include parking attendants, cashiers, custodians, lab animal caretakers, emergency medical technicians and physical therapists.

The SEIU members joined hundreds of nurses at the Near West Side hospital who on Saturday kicked off their seven-day strike. They are seeking limits on the number of patients under each nurse’s care and better personal protective equipment.

Members of the Illinois Nurses Association march outside University of Illinois Hospital Saturday morning on the first day of their seven-day strike.