Looking back at the last decade

It is a tradition for us at this time of the year to look back at the year behind us as a reminder of what can be accomplished when we stand together as a union. But this particular edition of the Hotel Voice also marks the end of a decade. And so I'd like to take a few minutes here to look back on what our union has accomplished in that decade. Doing so indeed reinforces our belief that great things can be achieved by maintaining a strong and united union.

 

Let's start with wages. In a decade where real wages fell over a ten-year period, ours did not. Ten years ago, in 1999, a room attendant in the Hotel Trades Council was earning $559 a week. Today, room attendants earn $828 a week. In 1999, room attendants earned $29,000 a year. Now they earn more than $43,000 a year. Similar increases were achieved in all job classifications within our union over the last ten years.

But the large, beneficial increase in wages is hardly the only accomplishment we have had in the last 10 years. It would be impossible to list all of them, but here are some of the changes that occurred in the last decade in which all of us can take pride.

As you all know, a new pharmacy program was brought into all Health Centers 10 years ago, and its $5 and $15 co-pays still exist. As many of you also know from recent editions of Hotel Voice, another improvement, 90-day generic prescriptions, will begin this month.

In the last 10 years direct deposit was established for our union's pensioners and the Help Line was instituted for all members. Staff members at the Benefit Funds office and the Health and Dental Centers were all trained in customer service. The results speak for themselves.

Ten years ago, working with Linda McDowell, Dr. Robert Greenspan, Hotel Association President Joseph Spinnato and the Trustees of the Benefit Funds, we came up with an ambitious space plan for the Health Centers.

In 2001 the expansion of the Queens Health Center was completed and robots were installed in the pharmacies. Also, at the request of the union and with agreement from the Hotel Association, the H.E.L.P. Office was established to address issues related to 9/11. Eight years later, the H.E.L.P. Office is still assisting members.

Several new classes were introduced in the training program, even before the new Training Center was opened. The 401 (k) program, which was won in negotiations for the 2000 contract, was introduced in 2001. Today, eight years later, 8,000 members participate in the program and have a collective total of more than $100 million invested!

In 2002 the groundbreaking for the Harlem Health Center took place. That same year, member benefits were expanded to include inpatient mental health treatment and coverage of members' dependents attending college through the age of 23, two additional issues that the union fought hard for in negotiations for the 2000 contract. The Harlem Health Center had its grand opening on December 16, 2003 and, in the same year, the renovations at the Midtown Health Center were completed.

A new, state-of the-art Training Center in Queens opened for classes in September, 2007. New classes were offered there, including Electrical Mechanic, Computer Skills, Food Server and Tournant. Also in 2007, a new benefit for members, credit counseling, was instituted. The benefit is administered through the Pre-Paid Legal program.

In 2004 the membership of the Hotel trades Council took a courageous and historic step by voting for Proposition 1.Some people thought the idea of having members vote on a self-assessment of $1,000 to build up our union's Defense Fund was folly. But a voter turnout that surpassed all expectations resulted in an unprecedented landslide decision in favor of Proposition 1. That put us in an extremely strong bargaining position for contract negotiations in 2006. The contract that we won in those negotiations is the best hotel contract anywhere in the world.

In 2005, our union embarked on a campaign to save the Plaza Hotel. We were told that with New York's tough real estate laws we had no chance of saving jobs at the Plaza and keeping any of the saved a good percentage of the jobs and a substantial portion of that historic property remains operating as a hotel today.

Following our successful contract fight in 2006 we had other accomplishments. After the new Training Center opened in 2007, its restaurant opened in 2008 and the first Culinary Class students graduated.

Ten years ago, our union wasn't even a blip on the political map. But we began implementing a plan in 2007 to directly involve members in the political arena. You know the results. Now, we are known as a powerful union with strong political influence. That political influence is important because it can help us preserve union density in the hotel industry and correspondingly increase our leverage in contract negotiations.

They say that Rome wasn't built in a day and no union can achieve it all in just one year. But as this edition of Hotel Voice shows, we had a great year in 2009 and a great first decade in the new millennium. This did not happen by accident. This happened because here in our Union we have the strongest, most dedicated and indeed the very best membership anywhere!