Fighting For Social Justice Since 1939
The Hotel & Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO (HTC), has a rich and proud history as a progressive, fighting union. For nearly 100 years, it has made life better for thousands of hotel workers and their families.
The Hotel & Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO (HTC), has a rich and proud history as a progressive, fighting union. For nearly 100 years, it has made life better for thousands of hotel workers and their families.
The struggle to build our union
HTC was founded in the late 1930's in a massive campaign to organize workers in the New York City hotel industry. Until then, hotel employees were among the most exploited workers in New York. Working conditions were horrendous. Treatment was unjust and demeaning. Benefits were non-existent. Hours were brutally long and wages pitifully low.
Each previous attempt to unionize the city's hotels had been crushed by hotel owners, including a general strike among hotel and restaurant workers in 1912. Most of these attempts by New York City hotel workers to organize were defeated easily.
In 1878, recognizing the power of unity, the city's hotel owners organized the Hotel Association of New York City, Inc., largely for the purpose of resisting unionization by their employees. In contrast, the efforts of the City's hotel workers to unify were repeatedly foiled because of rivalries among competing and bickering craft unions that each claimed jurisdiction over various parts of the industry.
This all ended when the Hotel Trades Council succeeded in uniting workers in all the jobs ("trades") in the city's hotel industry and winning the struggle for union recognition. HTC's first contract was signed with the Hotel Association on January 18, 1939.
A leader in the fight for social justice
Since our founding, our union has been a leader in the fight for social justice.
Prohibition against racial discrimination in hiring
HTC was among the first major unions to win a contractual industry-wide prohibition against racial discrimination in hiring in our second contract, in 1942. This was at a time when racism was both legal and pervasive.
A leader in the civil rights movement
Together, HTC, and its largest affiliated local, Local 6, were at the forefront of the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's. On two occasions, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited HTC headquarters to accept civil rights awards presented by our union. Our union remains a powerful force for human rights and against discrimination.
LGBTQIA+ rights
In the 1990's, before same-sex marriage was legalized, HTC won full benefit coverage for same-sex domestic partners of union members. Our contract also provides strong protections for workers against discrimination or disrespectful treatment based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
Hard, united struggle
Our union has continued to lead the way to progress for hotel workers. Each successive contract has increased their standard of living, as well as the respect and dignity they receive at work. The members of our union understand that every step forward has only been possible because of hard and united struggle.
In 1985, the members of our union voted to call a city-wide hotel strike to beat back an aggressive attempt by the hotel owners to force the union to accept a long list of contract givebacks. In 1990, 1995, and again in 2006, our members waged successful contract fights, securing excellent contracts in each case.
Equal pay for women
HTC has also been at the forefront in the fight for equal rights and equal pay for women. Our union funded a ground-breaking “equal pay for comparable work” lawsuit to equalize the pay of room attendants and housepersons in the hotel industry.
The union’s contract greatly enhances the legal rights of our members, and the grievance and arbitration process it establishes offers a far quicker and more effective method to enforce their rights than the court system. Our union aggressively enforces its contractual protections against gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
Protections for immigrants
Union hotel and gaming jobs are a gateway to the middle class for immigrants across the globe. We have fought for and won some of the strongest contract protections for immigrant workers in any union contract.
Our members – like the city they work in – are from all over the world and speak over 50 first languages.
More history
