Dive Brief:

• The New York/New Jersey Hotel and Gaming Trades Council reached a deal with 87 local hotels that will raise wages by $7.50 per hour for 7,000 of its union members, The Wall Street Journal reported. 
• The owners and operators of the suburban hotels spanning from Princeton, New Jersey, to New York’s Albany region and Long Island have ratified the five-year pact. 
• Once it is ratified by workers, the agreement would solidify the largest wage increase in the union’s 100-year history, a significant win as unionized workers across the country continue to fight for better pay and benefits. 

Dive Insight:

While worker dissatisfaction persists in the hospitality industry, the NY/NJ Hotel and Gaming Trades Council has struck a deal with hotel owners and operators to address low wages. 

The pandemic negatively impacted the financial stability of many hospitality workers, according to a 2021 study by the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida. Of the study’s 927 respondents, 58% said that due to COVID-19, their employer made changes that negatively impacted their financial situation. Additionally, 42% disagreed that tourism and hospitality jobs provide an above-average income, and 32% disagreed that their compensation is sufficient to encourage them to stay at their current job for the next 12 months. Some 7.1% of respondents had already left a job in the hospitality industry. 

Unionized workers at some hotels, such as the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach, Florida, have taken to striking to demand higher wages. In September, after more than 400 union officials of Unite Here Local 355 threatened to strike, the workers reached a deal with their employer.

The agreement increased their $13.95 pay per hour to $17 per hour — still roughly $3 lower than the average hourly earnings for a leisure and hospitality worker in September 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The Unite Here Local 30 union in San Diego also went on strike last year to demand pay increases. When initial bargaining talks failed and an agreement could not be reached, a strike by Hilton San Diego Bayfront workers on the morning of San Diego’s Comic-Con in July quickly caught the hotel’s attention and negotiations were back on — halting the strike. 

As part of the NY/NJ Hotel and Gaming Trades Council deal, which excludes New York City hotels, housekeeper and front desk hourly wages will increase from about $20 an hour to $27 by 2028, depending on their location, and hourly pay for cooks will grow to about $31, The Wall Street Journal reported.