THE UNSTOPPABLE Nikki Hayes

Kai EL’ Zabar Editor in Chief

ASPIRATIoNS

Nikki Hayes owner of Pier 31 on the Chicago Lake Front, and recent retiree as President of Laborers’ Local 1001 Union under the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA). In this role, she oversaw the organizing political action committee, laborer training, and apprenticeship. Prior to Local 1001, Nicole served 15 years with the City of Chicago overseeing the Bureau Traffic Services Abandoned Auto Program, in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Nicole Hayes attended St. Malachy Catholic School on the West side of Chicago. There she witnessed the nuns daily in a reverent setting making it hard to resist the idea of becoming a nun. She saw women running everything. It was a position that demanded much respect and inspiration for a girl child.

School was full of promise and there was so much about life that the young Nikki, as she is affectionately called by family and friends, had little knowledge. As a student, she was a high academic performer and actively engaged in extracurricular activities, including cheering. Nikki, says, “I always wanted to know what’s going on in the other room. I find that things that interest me most are those that I don’t know about.” That natural curiosity coupled with being the eldest daughter of three says, “Being female and the oldest shaped and molded me to assume a sense of leadership very naturally in life without knowing that’s what I was doing “My mother is a very strong woman. I owe much to her.”

Nikki shared an experience that also shaped her thinking differently but equally as important. What she noticed, not as ‘a thing,’ but observed it just the same was that there really weren’t many Black nuns, however, “There were many East Indian nuns whose complexion was like mine,” Naturally she gravitated toward them. She formed a special bond with one, who just seemed to get her and respected her intelligence. Nikki recounts their communication as playful yet informative. “Nikki, stop answering the questions, you know, let somebody else answer.” And she would laugh and we’d joke about it.”

Nikki recalled that the nun had informed her that she had to fulfill an academic requirement and would be gone for a few weeks. Upon her return, Nikki ran over to her with the excitement of a seventh-grader and hugged her. The nun said, “Don’t touch me.’ I had never been so hurt. I asked, ‘don’t touch you?” I thought that something was wrong. When the school principal informed the nun that she had deeply hurt Nikki the nun responded, “I just learned that we’re not supposed to have physical contact.”

Reality

Years later Nikki found out that the nun’s behavior was in response to the newly instated Catholic rules that the servants of the Catholic church were not to engage in physical touching of those outside of the order, especially children. Still, the nun’s response seemed cold and insensitive which greatly impacted her perspective of who the nuns were and were not. In retrospect Nikki recognizes that the scrutiny that the Catholic was under.

Lane Tech High School was a continuum of grade school. Nikki was consistent in excelling academically and exploring the unknown which led her to woodshop a course dominated by boys. that time, she desired to be an architect. Her extra curriculum activities included the opposite of wood shop-- as a popular cheerleader she maintained her ‘its girl’ status.

Nikki pauses and says, “My story takes a turn, because of my curiosity, my love interest led me to ‘different’ and I got caught up in that, ending in a teenage pregnancy. “I am grateful that my faith gave me the insight to recognize my firstborn, my daughter Shauna as what I know to be true, my pregnancy, her birth, she was my lifesaver. My focus was recalibrated. Curiosity is known to kill the cat. Enough! I must think about my responsibility. I mean I had a trajectory of what my life looked like and what I should be doing. I had let my ‘wonder’ about others get the best of me momentarily. And I questioned myself as to what exactly was my fascination with them? Whatever it was, I learned that it was not meant for me.”

I must acknowledge that the greatest reward is my daughter who recognized us . . . “Mommy, they counted us out. We were supposed to be a statistic.” That energy allowed Nikki to utilize her experience to shed light and insight regarding challenges and choices with her daughter.

She acknowledges her parents in their unyielding support of her, consequently allowing her to complete high school and college in pursuit of her aspirations. She attended one of the notable HBCU’s --Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana of which she says was one of the best decisions of her life. “I established lifelong friendships.”

Nikki set out to pursue a career in architecture. Her interests led her to take three courses in drafting. Doing so, she recognized that she was ‘the’ only female in the room. It was during that period that she became aware of the inequity of women in certain fields, and felt the weight of what it would take to become that ‘first Black woman’ to build that ‘skyscraper,’ to be too daunting. So, she consciously chose to move on from that vision. She set her eyes on businessworking in the corporate sector. Upon receiving her college degree, Nikki returned home and unsurprisingly worked a series of jobs that were male-dominated. One of which, was a valet service for major hotels. The expe- rience introduced her to top-level executives and powerful players in the corporate world. She observed their carefree attitude about things that others who had less were inclined to be more uptight mainly – their high-end cars. Nikki says, “The wealthy just give you the keys, to their Porsche, Benz, Maserati, etc., and thought little of it. I learned how to drive all of them, but most importantly I learned more about how the wealthy thought. “

CoASTING

“My Ex-husband was applying for a position with the city and suggested that I do the same, I did, and I got the job in Traffic Services because of my previous work experience,’ Nikki explains. As it turns out, it was a dangerous job . . . I had no idea. Imagine having to investigate someone’s car to gather the VIN number?” Nikki was promoted to supervisor at some point. and oversaw the entire program which was 95% male-dominated. Nikki highlights that she observed and experienced discrimination against women.

Chicago was under fire because, over a thirty-three-year period, there had been no union elections, when in fact they were supposed to be held every four years. At that moment in time, a male colleague approached her and said, “ You know, the union has been indicted. It needs new blood and I think we should run.” She agreed, but when she received a call from her friend on the day of the nominations, she was home. He asked, “Where are you? You need to be here for the nominations, now. Fortunately, he had arrived early which gave her an opportunity to get there. But she had two little ones and no sitter. He in turn said, “Nikki, bring them, just get here.” So, she took her children to their first union meeting. She recalls, “I can tell you that I had no idea at the time what I was doing there. And people were asking me that very question. Finally, the nominations came up and my friend spoke up, “I nominate Nikki Hayes.” He followed up by asking someone to second the nomination. I was voted in unanimously.”

To Nikki, it seemed crazy, but in retrospect, she says, “Destiny has a way of showing up. I had just been elected as secretary of one of the most powerful City of Chicago’s unions and the country. She expressed the nervousness she felt on the first day because she was unfamiliar with “Robert’s Rules of Order. But she’s always been smart and savvy. So quickly she asked for the minutes from the last meeting. That way she was able to see the format, and structure and familiarize herself with the last actions taken.

After three years she was voted in as President and served twelve more years.

There was so much she accomplished but what she’s most proud of is the work she did in conjunction with a commissioner to help create a department that generated money for the city but also allowed her to select people for the pilot program. “That gave me the opportunity to hire more people that looked like me who were sorely absent. Because of the program, they were able to bid on jobs and secure them. Mind you those individuals never would have been hired in supervisory positions. They rose from sanitation laborers’ positions to supervisors. ”

Naturally, the more she did, the more she was observed and spied on by the opposition, who felt threatened by her presence and the power that she held. Looking at her options Nikki chose to move forward while she was ahead and resumed interest in a long unfulfilled dream. She had always loved the beachfront and was drawn to the Northside’s presentation, however, didn’t feel welcomed She wanted that for the Southside. She applied in 2012 for the opportunity to build her vision at Rainbow Beach again. She had done so ten years prior and lost out to Robinson’s Ribs. The second time was a charm, but the challenge was money. “We were granted the opportunity, but we had to build it out. Pier 31 would cost big dollars.”

Nikki says, “I went through a lot of Architects and contractors to the point that I really thought that they were asking for too much money that my partner and I just didn’t have.” But destiny sent the angel in a form of Mr. Ron Harris, a contractor willing to work with me and allowed me to pay for the material upfront and then pay the rest as we operated the business.” This year Pier 31 celebrates 12 successful years and will host an Anniversary celebration, ‘The Nikki Fest,’ around the top of August.

Assuming responsibility to actively serve the community and philanthropy, She has held multiple offices on multiple committees Former Vice-President of Jack and Jill of America Incorporated; Chicago Chapter, the Recording Secretary of the LiUNA Women’s Caucus, and Board Member of the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership just to name a few. Most recently she joined the board of the Auditorium Theater of which she says, “It has been a lesson on the value and importance of the arts. I’ve had the opportunity to rub shoulders with those who are responsible for bringing culture to the city, which if not for them would not happen. It’s an invaluable commitment. I understand that if not for them, there would be no Alvin Ailey performances in Chicago.”

Next? “We’ll have to see. I just retired, January 28, 2022, from the Presidency of the Union. I have so much more to do.