HTC Members Take Paid Time Off to Vote
November 29, 2022 12:52 PM
In November’s midterm elections, several thousand HTC members took advantage of a new tool in a growing number of our union contracts: paid time off to vote.
In the week leading up to Election Day, members at the hotels and casinos with this new contract language signed up to take their paid voting time. Members could choose to take two hours off at the beginning, middle, or end of their shifts.
Tenzin Youdon, a Housekeeping delegate at the Pendry, is one of the members who voted during her shift on Election Day. “By the time I get home from work, put dinner on the table, and help my daughters with their homework, it’s 9PM. Without the two hours PTO to vote, I don’t know how I would have done it,” says Tenzin, a mother of two living in Queens. “I felt really proud to be able to vote during those two hours. I took home two future voters stickers to my girls, to explain how important it is to vote for the right person."
Since 2018, our Union has secured this new contract language at over 140 union properties– over 80 hotels and casinos covered by the Greater Regional Industry Wide Agreement in New Jersey, Westchester, Long Island, and Upstate New York and 60 more in New York City.
“We’re committed to keep negotiating these rights at all of our shops. As lawmakers across the country attempt to deny millions of people their ability to vote, our Union is doing its part to fight back,” says HTC President Rich Maroko. “In addition to securing paid time off to vote, we require these employers to offer voter registration on the job and issue employee IDs that meet the voter ID requirements that exist in 35 states.”