Workers at dozens of the city’s top hotels — including the Palmer House and Sheraton Grand Chicago — voted on Wednesday to authorize a strike later this month as they fight for a new collective bargaining agreement. The employees will hit the picket lines if a new deal is not struck by Aug. 31, after Unite Here Local 1 members voted “overwhelmingly” — more than 90 percent — in favor of a potential strike, a union source said late Wednesday.

Thirty-one hotels, most of them downtown, would be affected by the work stoppage. The exact number of hotel employees potentially

Comment: Surprise, surprise. Ralph Martire of the public union backed CTBA is quite fond of the idea of running up another $10 billion of debt to be used to shore up public pensions. And note that he wants to make sure that’s in addition to the new ramp up in scheduled pension contributions, for which the city has still offered no plan source of money.

Comment: Sell off ownership of future income to pay down some pension debt. That’s the concept.