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HTC says it wants \u201cfair\u201d compensation, but the union\u2019s president calls the existing contract the \u201cgold standard\u201d for workers\u2013and the industry agrees; NYC Hotels\u2019 \u201ccontracts are the gold standard in the unionized industry, with the highest wages, best benefits, and most robust rights and protections.\u201d \u2013 HTC President Rich Maroko<\/p>\n
The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council plans to today, calling for \u201cfair\u201d compensation for workers while\u00a0claiming a strike<\/a>\u00a0is on the table \u2013 four full months before its current agreement with the hotel industry expires. That potential strike could also occur in the middle of the World Cup, one of New York City\u2019s greatest economic opportunities of 2026, which hundreds-of-thousands of workers in-and-out of the hotel industry rely on.<\/p>\n In response, the Hotel Association of New York City put out \u201cFive Facts\u201d about current worker compensation \u2013 which HTC President Rich Maroko called the \u201cgold standard\u201d for workers \u2013 and the declining state of the industry in New York.<\/p>\n FACT 1:<\/p>\n Unionized hotel workers in NYC are the highest paid in the United States.<\/p>\n The base salary for a room attendant is about $40, which is $23 per hour more than non-union hotel workers, $8 more than NYC prevailing wage, $11 more than in Chicago and Washington D.C., $8.50 more than Los Angeles and Boston, and $6 more than in San Francisco. Union hotel workers in New York also earn as much as $13 per hour more than other union employees in the city for performing similar work.<\/p>\n NYC Hotels\u2019 \u201ccontracts are the gold standard in the unionized industry with the highest wages, best benefits, and most robust rights and protections.\u201d \u2013 HTC President Rich Maroko<\/p>\n Source:\u00a0July 2024 message to workers<\/a>\u00a0(begins at :23 second mark)<\/p>\n FACT 2:<\/p>\n Unionized hotel workers in NYC receive excellent benefits.<\/p>\n All workers receive a pension and they and their dependents pay nothing for going to the doctor, seeing a specialist, for medical exams like x-rays, for surgery (even elective surgery), emergency room visits, dental care (including orthodonture), and only pay a small $5 co-pay for generic drugs and $15 for brand drugs. By contrast, employees in other major city unions can pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for medical, hospitalization, dental, pharmacy and other benefits and services.<\/p>\n FACT 3:<\/p>\n NYC\u2019s economy heavily relies on the hotel industry and tourism.<\/p>\n The hotel industry supports tens-of-thousands of hotel workers\u2013the vast majority of whom are foreign-born and unionized-and produces close to $4 billion in annual tax revenue that funds essential public services. It also supports nearly 400,000 tourism jobs.<\/p>\n FACT 4:<\/p>\n The NYC hotel industry is in steep decline as costs, taxes and regulations have increased.<\/p>\n New York City has lost 20,000 rooms and 24% of its unionized workforce since 2019.<\/p>\n FACT 5:<\/p>\n The hotel industry in New York City is projected to keep declining unless there is relief.<\/p>\n Two million fewer visitors<\/a>\u00a0traveled to New York in 2025 than projected, and a\u00a0half-million fewer visitors<\/a>\u00a0are expected this year than in 2019. Persistent inflation, tariffs, declining tourism, and rising operating costs now threaten an essential New York industry that is a cornerstone of the city\u2019s economy and the backbone of its tourism sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current union hotel contract provides the highest pay, best benefits and most robust protections in the country to workers\u2013a fact the industry takes pride in. That\u2019s why there hasn\u2019t been a labor dispute in the New York City hotel industry for 40 years, and why there absolutely doesn\u2019t need to be one now\u2013especially during World Cup,\u201d said Vijay Dandapani, CEO and President of the Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC). \u201cIt is extremely premature for the union to threaten a strike during World Cup and put a huge economic opportunity for hotel workers and the city at risk. In fact, the union\u2019s own president has called our current contract the \u201cgold standard\u201d for its members.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is in this time of decline for the hotel industry that the World Cup will be coming to our city. The World Cup can provide a much-needed financial boost to all hotels, especially those facing the potential of closure,\u201d Dandapani said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HTC says it wants \u201cfair\u201d compensation, but the union\u2019s president calls the existing contract the \u201cgold standard\u201d for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-149891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}