New Pact Gets Hotel Workers $60 an Hour in NYC

NEW YORK – Housekeepers in New York City hotels are set to make $60 an hour after their union reached an eight-year, tentative agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City on a new Industry-Wide Agreement (“IWA”).

The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, (AFL-CIO) has scheduled an all-day ratification vote for Thursday, May 21. Members who work at a Hotel Association Bargaining Group shop are eligible to vote to ratify the proposed agreement. Once ratified, the union will execute the agreement.

The IWA was already considered the best contract in the world for hotel workers – with unparalleled wages, health and retirement benefits, and rights on the job, said Rich Maroko, HTC President.

“This new agreement goes even further – delivering the biggest wage increases in the union’s history (more than 2.5x the average increases in the last contract), maintaining free family healthcare, increasing pension contributions, providing new benefit funds to address rising costs in housing and child care, protecting members’ jobs, improving paid time off, expanding our members’ rights at work, and strengthening our already unparalleled ability to enforce the contract – all without a single giveback.”

Over the life of the agreement, wages will increase, on average, by more than 50 percent. By the end of the contract, Room Attendants and other non-tipped workers will be earning six-figures.

The agreement also maintains free family healthcare benefits. Healthcare was a defining issue in these negotiations, due to significant, unexpected increases in healthcare costs at the end of 2025.

Under the terms negotiated by the union, employers will increase their contributions to the Health Benefits Fund by 3 percentage points from 27.25% to 30.25% of payroll – a total value of nearly $65 million per year.

The new contract also provides an increase in employer contributions to the Pension Fund in the first year of the contract – on top of the contribution increase that went into effect just this past January.

“On top of these huge economic gains, our union secured new benefits and unparalleled rights and protections on the job,” said Maroko.

A few of the new contract provisions include:

• New benefit funds to address the rising cost of housing, child care, and threats to jobs;
• Fully paid parental leave;
• Higher penalties for hotels that repeatedly underpay members;
• Improved rights to information necessary to investigate, find, and fix contract violations;
• Broader power for the arbitrator to craft remedies that prevent bad actors from violating the contract and abusing your rights;
• Financial consequences for employers who try (and fail) to challenge arbitration decisions in court;
• Enhanced rights regarding employee privacy;
• A contractual right to be treated with dignity and respect by management.

Maroko said, “our union has made history with this contract and bettered the lives of our City’s hotel workers for years to come.”