A historic and significant deal for hotel workers

Hakikul Islam Khokon

Marocco (HTC president) runs perhaps the most powerful union in the United States through the Hotel Trades Council. He declared that,
We are very pleased to announce that our union has reached a preliminary agreement on a new ‘Industry-Wide Agreement’ (IWA) with the Hotel Association of New York City.
The IWA is already well-known as one of the world’s best deals for hotel workers—including attractive salaries, better health and retirement benefits, and stronger workplace rights. This new deal exceeds that standard as well.
This is the largest pay increase agreement in our union’s history, more than two and a half times the average rate of increase in previous agreements. At the same time it maintained free health care benefits for families, increased employer contributions to pension funds and created new financial assistance funds to deal with housing and childcare cost pressures.
This 8-year agreement will ensure long-term financial stability for members. An average salary increase of more than 50% will be available throughout the duration of the contract. At the end of the contract, the non-tipped workers, including the ‘room attendants’, will be able to earn six figures a year.
Health care facilities were an important topic of discussion. Despite potential cost increases, the agreement fully secures free health care benefits for members’ families. Employers’ contribution will increase from 27.25% to 30.25%, with an estimated annual value of approximately $65 million.
Also, additional contributions have been added to the pension fund, which will help ensure better benefits in the future.
Notable benefits of the new agreement include:
• New support funds to meet housing and childcare costs
• Inclusion of ‘Juneteenth’ as an additional paid holiday
• Parental leave on full pay• Enact strong policies to ensure job protection of workers from the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies
This agreement is a milestone in the history of our union, providing financial security to members,Strengthened professional status and future security.