Springhill Suites Newark Airport Ratifies First Contract

On May 5, 2015, workers at the Springhill Suites Newark Liberty International Airport Hotel unanimously ratified their first union contract. This is a major victory for our the workers at this hotel, who will see an immediate improvement in their working conditions. The contract took effect immediately, and will remain in effect until March 31st, 2018.

The hotel is now covered by the Greater Regional Industry Wide Agreement (or, GRIWA for short), the master contract that the Hotel Trades Council negotiated with the hotel industry outside of New York City.

Non-union hotels have a reputation for treating their workers terribly, sometimes paying minimum wage. These conditions differ drastically from the GRIWA, which provides a remarkable level of economic security, job security, and rights on the job for the workers at the Springhill Suites Newark and the 11 other hotels covered by this agreement.
                                                                                 


The hotel was organized through card check neutrality, which allowed workers to organize without fear of intimidation or retaliation by management. Card check neutrality makes it easier to organize a shop, since management is not able to tell lies about the union and workers can organize without the expenses and time wasting of a government run election. Because of the language of our contract, workers were able to quickly organize and win the union in their shop.
                                                        

This contract provides excellent wage increases, benefits, and mechanisms to ensure that the contract can be enforced. Workers at the Springhill Suites Newark will receive an immediate and substantial wage increase, with guaranteed future wage increases in each year of the contract. Workers also received a lump sum payment for retroactive raises and a signing bonus. Additionally, workers will benefit from the strong language of the GRIWA which ensures that workers will be protected from arbitrary or unfair treatment by managers, must have five full days’ notice of their shifts or changes to their schedule, and can’t be assigned an unreasonable workload.

Besides the excellent pay increases, workers will receive fully employer funded healthcare by the end of the contract, and will then have the choice of joining the union’s health plan or staying on the hotel’s plan. Immediately after the workers ratified the contract, workers had the cost of their health plan decreased by more than $1,000 per year. In addition to the reduced health costs and wage increases, this contract gives workers the dignity of a pension. While across the country union pension plans are under attack, HTC was able to go against that tide and create a pension fund, making this contract even more of a substantial victory for our members.



From a defined pension plan to health care without employee contributions, this contract truly provides a level of economic well-being unthinkable prior to unionization.