Union wins boost to unemployment benefits ahead of 2026 contract fight
Our union has been spearheading a years-long effort to improve unemployment benefits for workers in New York – writing op-eds, running ads, and lobbying state electeds in multiple budget cycles. In May 2025, we succeeded when New York State elected officials passed dramatic improvements to unemployment – both increasing weekly benefits and making them more accessible to striking workers.
This win for workers comes just one year before our union’s city-wide contract in NYC is set to expire and is part of a larger campaign by our union’s leadership to prepare for bargaining. The improvements to unemployment will provide direct support to HTC members if management forces us to strike and send a clear, unequivocal message to the hotel industry ahead of 2026: “Albany has our back.”
What’s changing?
1. Higher weekly benefits
The maximum weekly unemployment benefit will increase by nearly 75% – rising from $504 a week to $869 starting in October 2025. It is the largest single increase in New York State’s history. Unemployment benefits are calculated as roughly half of a worker’s weekly wage, up to the maximum benefit. For years, the most that a New York worker could collect was capped at just $504 a week. With the average New York City rent above $3,000 per month, the lifeline that was meant to help struggling workers keep their heads above water, wasn’t enough to even pay rent.
Increasing weekly benefits to a new maximum of $869 was no easy ask. New York State officials came up with nearly $7 billion to pay down the State’s Unemployment Insurance trust fund debt as part of the deal.
“I can’t overstate the impact of this change,” remarked HTC President Rich Maroko. “In a seasonal industry like the hotel industry, one in six of our members are laid off for some period, every year. For our members, this is a game changer.”
2. Faster benefits during a strike
New York lawmakers also reduced the waiting period for striking workers to collect unemployment benefits – slashing it in half. If on strike, New York workers will now only have to wait 2 weeks to start collecting unemployment benefits. This change makes New York’s waiting period for strikers the shortest in the country!
Not coincidentally, it will take effect just before our union’s Industry-Wide Agreement (“IWA”), a 14-year contract between our union and the majority of the NYC hotel industry, expires in July 2026.
“Families suffer when their parents are out there fighting for good wages and benefits,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul told a crowd of HTC members who gathered to celebrate the changes on June 30, 2025. “We can’t let that happen. It’s now three weeks down to two – we made that happen for you.”
More leverage at the bargaining table
At the bargaining table in 2026, union leaders will have to convince the hotel industry that fighting our union will be much more expensive than signing another IWA contract. That means that we need to be ready to hurt a hotel’s bottom line with a boycott or strike if management is not willing to negotiate a fair agreement.
“Our goal is to reach another excellent contract without a fight but in the event that management forces a strike, these improvements to unemployment mean our members will be able to collect much more in benefits and more quickly,” explains HTC President Rich Maroko. “This ensures that HTC strikers can afford to take on bad actors for as long as it takes to reach a fair deal.”
“We got your back”
For almost 100 years, starting with a bloody mineworkers strike in Harlan County Kentucky, labor has been asking one simple, direct question of elected officials: Which side are you on? Are you on the side of the workers or the bosses?
In delivering these bold improvements, New York State lawmakers have sent a strong message to the hotel industry: They have our backs in 2026.
“I hope you never need that unemployment benefit,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told the crowd. “But if you do, we’ve got your back.”
State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie doubled-down, “Hopefully, this helps you in your negotiations next year, to know that worker still – if a strike has to happen – they’ll be able to get enhanced benefits.”
“It’s a simple question and this new law answers it clearly and without equivocation,” Rich Maroko told HTC members at the June 30th rally. “The Governor is on our side. Every one of these leaders on the stage with me today – the governor, the speaker and the leader – were driven to enact this law because they know that exactly one year from today, our city-wide hotel contract expires.”
He added, “Our leaders have the courage to stand up and say plainly and unmistakably, when the battle lines are drawn, we are on your side. We are grateful that in that fight, we have allies in this governor, speaker and leader - because with them on our side, we can’t lose.”
