Berlin Nightclub closes after 40 years amidst union boycott

Famed Northalsted nightclub Berlin has closed a month into a boycott called for by newly-unionized bar staff who said the club has stalled contract negotiations.

A Tuesday afternoon post on the club’s Instagram page announcing the closure did not directly reference the union campaign or boycott.

“The expenses of increased security, insurance and licensing, equipment, rent and more cannot be overestimated and we could not imagine morphing the bar into a bottle service, VIP area venue,” the post read. “So the doors are locked. The music is silenced and our dreams are now memories.”

Workers at the club, which was for nearly four decades a haven for Chicago’s alternative queer community, launched a union campaign this spring. Bar staff told the Tribune they were seeking higher wages, health care and a voice in the day-to-day running of the nightclub. The workers — including bartenders, barbacks, security staff and coat check workers — voted 16-4 to unionize with…