About NY Hotel Trades Council

The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, AFL-CIO, (Hotel Trades Council for short), is the union for hotel and gaming workers in New York and Northern New Jersey.The Hotel Trades Council was formed in the late 1930's in a massive city-wide campaign to organize the hotel industry.Our union represents approximately 35,000 non-managerial employees working in all hotel departments, including: housekeeping, public space, dining room, banquet, room service, kitchen, stewarding, bar, mini-bar, audio-visual, front desk, reservations, PBX, bell and door services, concierge, night auditing, laundry, valet, engineering, maintenance, electrical, carpentry, painting, upholstery, business centers, night cleaning, health spas, security, garage, purchasing and receiving, and storeroom.More than 300 hotels and other related businesses employ our members and are under contract to our union. This accounts for approximately 75% of the hotel industry within the five boroughs of New York City.The membership of our union is united and militant, but also incredibly diverse. They come from many nations and backgrounds and speak more than 50 languages.The workers represented by our union enjoy the best union contract for hotel workers in the world, guaranteeing excellent wages, benefits, working conditions, and standards of fair treatment. Every previous attempt at unionisation, including a general strike by New York City hotel and restaurant workers in 1912, had been crushed by the hotel owners.Our first industry-wide contract was signed on January 18, 1939 and included a ground-breaking provision banning discrimination in employment. The Council, and its affiliated locals, have since been at the forefront of the civil rights movement.