News
HTC ally Chuck Schumer to become Senate Majority Leader
January 19, 2021 2:06 PM
The new Congress and Biden administration are days away from taking on the monumental task of implementing a national strategy to combat the coronavirus pandemic and rebuild our economy in a way that lifts up working people. The election of Georgia Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the United States Senate on January 5th not only delivered the Democratic Party a majority in both chambers of Congress and put President-elect Biden in a position to realistically enact his ambitious agenda, but it also elevated New York Senator Chuck Schumer to the powerful position of Senate Majority Leader.
This is great news for workers across our country. Throughout his 40 years in Congress, Senator Schumer has been an advocate for working people, a fierce supporter of the labor movement, and a very loyal friend to our Union. His new power will likely translate into more COVID-19 relief, dramatic labor law reforms that make it easier to organize a union, and a national $15 minimum wage. Read more...
President-Elect Biden: “the government should encourage the formation of unions”
January 17, 2021 5:00 PM
On January 8, 2021 President-elect Joe Biden announced the nominations for the key members of his economic team, including leadership at the United States Department of Labor. The President-elect committed that under the Biden-Harris administration, our government will not only protect the rights of workers to organize, but actually encourage the formation of unions in an effort to help our economy recover and rebuild our nation’s middle class. Read more...
Marriott Marquis Workers Win Union Recognition After 35 Years
January 11, 2021 3:16 PM
Last week, our Union finally succeeded in organizing the largest and oldest non-union hotel in New York City, the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. HTC won recognition as the collective bargaining representative of the workers in the hotel’s housekeeping department. This victory marks the end of a 35-year union avoidance campaign at the hotel by Marriott. Read more...
A Message on the Jan. 6th Insurrection from HTC President Rich Maroko
January 7, 2021 2:04 PM
The events of January 6, 2021 will be immortalized in history as a stain on American democracy. The riotous mob that descended on our nation’s capital attacked the very foundations of our country and Constitution. I want to take a moment to condemn the treasonous actions of these domestic terrorists. In the darkest chapter of modern American politics, it was ordinary people who stood up to protect human life and preserve our democracy. I applaud the heroes of yesterday’s attack: the congressional aides who rescued electoral ballots and the elected officials who, after fearing for their lives, worked through the night to fulfill their constitutional duty. Thanks to their steadfast resolve in the face of terrorism, the election results were certified shortly after 3:00 AM. Read more...
HTC Members Get Out the Vote in Georgia
December 26, 2020 12:20 PM
Eighteen HTC members and organizers are volunteering in Georgia to get out the vote for Democratic Senate candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. On January 5th, Georgia will hold a run-off election, which will determine which party holds power in the Senate.
In less than a month, President-Elect Biden will take over the economic recovery of our nation and begin managing the COVID-19 crisis. In order to implement many of his most ambitious plans, Biden will need the Senate’s support. In today’s political climate, this means Biden will need a Democratic majority in the Senate including both Warncok and Ossoff. Read more...
850 Workers Fired at Non-union Marriott Marquis in Times Square
December 23, 2020 11:19 AM
On December 11th, the Marriott Marquis, the largest non-union hotel in New York City, terminated over 850 employees, most after many years of service with the hotel. Most of them will be replaced by subcontracted workers. Read more...
Breaking News: Marriott Downtown Workers Join HTC!
December 10, 2020 8:26 PM
This evening, workers at the Marriott Downtown Hotel, located on Albany and West Streets in lower Manhattan, joined our Union after working non-union for nearly 30 years. Read more...
Meet the Candidates for New York City Mayor
December 7, 2020 1:42 PM
In November 2021, New Yorkers will elect the next mayor of New York City. Not only will the next mayor have the power to enforce the legislation that our Union has fought tirelessly to get passed over the last decade, but they will also oversee the reopening of our local economy after this global crisis.
HTC Helped Get Out the Vote for Biden-Harris, Playing a Role in their Historic Victory
November 7, 2020 6:09 PM
Dozens of HTC members and organizers volunteered to get out the vote for President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate in the 2020 election. Union volunteers phone banked and canvassed for the candidates in key swing states: Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Their efforts helped to achieve a historic victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the presidential election, and to win an important Senate seat in Arizona.
NYC Public School Parents: Opt Into Blended Learning By November 15th
November 4, 2020 7:45 PM
The New York City Department of Education has announced that the parents of NYC public school students who are enrolled in remote learning have until November 15, 2020 to decide if they want to enroll their child in “blended learning” (a mix of both in-person and online/remote learning) for the rest of the school year.
After November 15th, students who are enrolled in remote-only learning will not be able to change their minds. Read more...
On the Ballot: The Survival of the American Labor Movement
October 27, 2020 10:59 AM
Many Americans understand that a vote for the President is, in effect, a vote on the future of the U.S. Supreme Court, whose rulings will affect our civil liberties and rights for years to come. But Supreme Court Justices are not the only presidential appointees that have significant power over the lives of the American people. A group of lesser known presidential appointees that are effectively “on the ballot” each election are those to the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). These appointees are responsible for protecting the rights of American workers to organize, join a union, and collectively bargain over their wages, benefits, and working conditions.
As working people cast their ballots this election, they will be voting on the very survival of the American labor movement.
New York: Early Voting is Happening All Week
October 26, 2020 3:46 PM
New York voters can cast their ballot in this year’s general election every day through Sunday, November 1st. To locate your early voting poll site and find the early voting schedule in your county, read more.
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...
Our Union endorses Joe Biden
October 22, 2020 10:06 AM
By HTC President Rich Maroko
For 80 years, our members have spoken out again and again against abuses of power, discrimination, and disrespect. Thousands of you have stood beside a coworker who has been treated unfairly by a manager, walked a picket line to fight for someone who wants to provide a better life for their family, and packed city hall to advocate for laws that will protect our communities.
Well, this election is another moment when we must band together and act for the greater good.
The Loss of an American Hero: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
October 14, 2020 2:22 PM
By President Rich Maroko
Our nation lost a brilliant legal mind and tireless advocate for equality on Friday, September 18th, with the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg was a whip-smart litigator, champion for women’s rights, and fierce defender of the most vulnerable Americans. Read more...
Update: The Last Day to Complete the Census is Now October 15th. Make Sure You’re Counted.
October 14, 2020 2:30 PM
After a long battle in the courts, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, that the Census Bureau could go through with its plan to end the outreach efforts of the 2020 Census early, despite millions of Americans being left uncounted. The Census Bureau has announced that Thursday, October 15, 2020 will be the last day to complete the Census.
If you have not yet completed the Census, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Read more...
Great Job Rich!
September 11, 2020, 8:31 PM
By Former President Peter Ward
I just wanted to take a moment to pay homage to the absolutely marvelous and amazing job our new President, Rich Maroko, has done in almost single-handedly winning an additional three months of health care coverage, and the right to collect severance “bridge payments” for the approximately 28,000 HTC-represented workers covered under the IWA and Division A contracts. Read more...
2020 Census Efforts Are Ending Early. Make Sure You're Counted.
September 9, 2020 2:04 PM
The US Census Bureau will stop the 2020 Census efforts to reach unresponsive households four weeks early, on September 30, 2020. The decision, which many see as politically motivated, means that millions of Americans will undoubtedly not be counted.
By stopping Census efforts prematurely, historically undercounted groups: immigrants, Black and Brown Americans, and low-income households are at risk of being drastically undercounted. Read more...
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…
HTC Stands in Solidarity with Professional Athletes Striking Against Racial Injustice
August 28, 2020 12:08 PM
On August 26, 2020, players on the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks refused to play in an important playoff game in response to the police shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The strike garnered national attention and shows the immense power that workers can have when they are united and demand change. Read more...
