54 Search Results for "Civil%20Rights"

Fighting For Social Justice Since 1939

The Hotel Trades Council, AFL-CIO (HTC), has a rich and proud history as a progressive, fighting union. For more than 80 years, it has made life better for literally hundreds of thousands of hotel workers and the members of their families.

HTC was founded in the late 1930's in a massive campaign to organize workers in the New York City hotel industry.

Mildred Grossman Photo Exhibit

Mildred Grossman was an award-winning photographer, a teacher and an active member of the New York City Teachers' Union in the 1940s. Her work was part of a collection that has been hailed as the most successful exhibition of photography ever assembled. "The Family of Man," which included two of Grossman's photographs, debuted at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in January 1955, circulated internationally for eight years, and then sold more than 4 million copies in book form.

Governor Cuomo Signs "Say Their Name" Reform Agenda and Issues Executive Order on Police Accountability

June 19, 2020 5:57 PM

In response to ongoing state-wide protests and marches, Governor Cuomo signed the ‘Say Their Name’ Reform agenda into law on June 12, 2020. HTC had previously endorsed these measures. The new laws include reforms in policing and criminal justice: a repeal and reform of section 50-a of the New York State Civil Rights Law, allowing disciplinary records of police to be released to the public in cases of misconduct, a statewide ban on police chokeholds, a prohibition of false race-based 911 reports, and the designation of the NY Attorney General as an independent prosecutor in cases involving the deaths of unarmed civilians at the hands of police.

Governor Cuomo also signed an executive order on June 12: “The New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative,” requiring local police departments to adopt a plan by April 1, 2021 in order to be eligible for future state funding. Read more...

More Criminal Justice Reform Measures Enacted in New York

Hotel Voice — April 30, 2019

"As many of you know from an editorial we published in Hotel Voice in 2017, our union has been working closely with the Innocence Project on criminal justice reform. It is my belief that this is the single most important civil rights issue in the United States, followed closely by immigration reform. The unfair incarceration of poor, disadvantaged and working class people who disproportionately are Black and Latino is a stain on the soul of our country."

-HTC President Peter Ward

With Michael Goodwin’s Retirement, HTC Executive Board Is Realigned

With the retirement of Michael Goodwin as Secretary-Treasurer of the Hotel Trades Council there has been a realignment of the union’s Executive Board. Local 94 Business Manager Kuba Brown was named as Goodwin’s replacement as HTC Secretary-Treasurer, and Local 153 Business Manager Richard Lanigan was named as an HTC Vice President.

HTC and the Little Rock Nine

“This year marks the 60th anniversary of our union honoring the Little Rock Nine — a group of incredibly brave students who were the center of the battle to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and who even today serve as an enduring symbol of the courage and resolve of the civil rights movement and the fight for equality.”

Those were the words of Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward, on Tuesday, June 12, when the ties between our union and the Little Rock Nine officially spanned 60 years at a luncheon held in Gallagher’s Steak House.

HTC at the 1963 March on Washington

The 1963 March on Washington is one of the most celebrated moments in the Civil Rights Movement. Organized by a coalition of civil rights organizations and progressive unions, the march brought over 250,000 people from around the country to support the passage of civil rights legislation. The march is perhaps best known for Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, and is widely credited with contributing to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Scab Rebecca Friedrichs Featured Speaker at Republican Convention

October 25, 2020 4:25 PM

In the first ten minutes on the first night of its 2020 National Convention, the Republican Party featured a notorious anti-union former teacher, Rebecca Friedrichs, to deliver a vitriolic attack against labor unions. Friedrichs was the plaintiff in the 2016 Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which aimed to defund and weaken public sector labor unions across the country.

At on time or another, as union members, many of us have run into a treacherous co-worker who is eager to lick the boots of their boss. There’s a term for such a character – scab. That’s Ms. Friedrichs in a nutshell.

The Republican Party’s choice of Ms. Friedrichs as the second speaker in its convention is a disturbing signal that the GOP is now even more hostile to the rights of workers than it has ever been. Read more...

Reverend Al Sharpton: "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks"

June 8, 2020 5:18 PM

On Thursday, June 4th, 2020, Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a memorable eulogy for George Floyd at a memorial service for him in Minneapolis. The family asked the civil rights leader to give the eulogy for Mr. Floyd as this wasn’t a normal death, nor simply an untimely death, but a lynching and the family asked the Reverend who has regularly amplified the voices and experiences of being black in the United States to honor Mr. Floyd and to contextualize his murder. Rev. Sharpton poignantly and stirringly voiced the righteous demand of millions when he said, “what happened to Floyd happens every day in this country, in education, in health services, and in every area of American life. It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say get your knee off our necks.”

HTC urges everyone to watch Rev. Sharpton’s remarks in their entirety. You can watch it here.

57 Years Since the March on Washington

August 28, 2020 4:15 PM

Friday marks 57 years since the 1963 March on Washington — one of many significant events in the Civil Rights Movement, and a historic moment that we as a Union are proud to have joined. Organized by a coalition of civil rights groups, the march brought over 250,000 people from around the country to support the passage of civil rights legislation.

From the erosion of voting rights, to the murders of our Black brothers and sisters we have borne witness to this summer alone, our Union cannot simply celebrate this anniversary, but rather see it as a continued call to action. Read more…