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New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council Records

Call Number

WAG.123

Date

circa 1930-1987, inclusive

Creator

New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council
New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council (Role: Donor)
Ward, Peter (Role: Donor)

Extent

96 Linear Feet in 96 record cartons

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council was born in of Depression-era struggles to improve conditions for employees of New York City hotels, restaurants and private clubs. Several unsuccessful strikes and the emergence of a powerful Hotel Association representing the employers, spurred this effort. In April of 1938 the Council was formed as an umbrella group of five AFL-affiliated unions and given sole authority to bargain for those unions. Over the years many other independent unions and locals have affiliated with the Council. In addition to industry-wide bargaining, the Council took on the work of administering welfare funds and running training and community service programs for its affiliates as a group. The collection consists of administrative files of the Council, correspondence and other files of Council presidents Jay Rubin and Vito Pitta, an extensive series of files arranged by the names of individual hotels, photograps, and records of the welfare funds and social service programs amdinistered by the Council.

Historical/Biographical Note

The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council was born in of Depression-era struggles to improve conditions for employees of New York City hotels, restaurants and private clubs. Several unsuccessful strikes and the emergence of a powerful Hotel Association representing the employers, spurred this effort. In April of 1938 the Council was formed as an umbrella group of five AFL-affiliated unions and given sole authority to bargain for those unions. Over the years many other independent unions and locals have affiliated with the Council. The Council took on the work of administering welfare funds and running training and community service programs for its affiliates as a group.

In the early 1930s conditions for workers in New York hotel and restaurant industry were harsh. Hours were long, work was seasonal, benefits were non-existent and there was no minimum wage. To make matters worse, gangsterism, which had flourished in the years of Prohibition, was rife in the industry. The The American Federation of Labor-affiliated Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union concentrated its efforts on restaurant workers to the detriment of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in hotels. The failure of a 1934 strike sparked by a walkout of kitchen and dining room workers at the Waldorf Astoria led to several mergers of small independent unions attempting to gain leverage in confrontations with the powerful Hotel Association, representing hotel owners. In 1937 a newly formed Hotel, Restaurant and Cafeteria Employees Organizing Committee, led by left-wing militants, Jay Rubin, Miguel Garriga and Michael Obermeier, ran a hugely successful organizing campaign that further raised expectations.

In February 1938 eleven locals merged to form Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 6. Local 6 was given juridiction over all hotel employees except those who were already members of building trades unions. On April 26, 1938 five unions joined together to form the Hotel Trades Council: H.E.R.E., Local 6; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 3; Building Service Employees International Union, Local 32A; International Brotherhood of Operating Engineers, Locals 94 and 94A; and International Brotherhood of Firemen, Oilers and Maintenance Mechanics, Local 56. The Council's first victory, in March 1938, was an agreement by the Hotel Association all grievances of union members would be taken up with the HTC. In subsequent years many other unions or locals either merged into Local 6 or joined the Council individually. In terms of numbers, Local 6 was the largest group in the Council and the most active in its affairs.

Jay Rubin was elected as first president of the Council, a position which he held until his retirement in 1978. Born in Gradno, Poland in 1904, Rubin had worked as and upholsterer and a baker before becoming a union organizer. He served on the Executive Board of the New York Central Labor Council and the Executive Bopard of the New York Copnvention and Visitors Bureau. A champion of improved health care for workers, he was an officer of the Hospitl Review and Planning Council of Southern New York, the New York State Advisory Board of Medicaid, and the Labor-Management Council of Health and Welfare Plans. Rubin died in New York City on August 12, 1990.

In January 1939 the Council concluded a comprehensive wages and hours agreement, with strong support from New Deal state and municipal authorities. Among its historic provisions were time-and-a-half pay for overtime, paid vacations, free uniforms, a curb on split shifts, dues checkoff, an anti-discrimination clause, no dismissal for union activity, and establishment of an arbitration procedure. While some hotels signed the agreement immediately, many others held out for years -- the last few signing in the 1950s.

In 1944 the HTC achieved an industry-wide, employer-financed and union-managed benefits program. A Hotel Joint Employment Agency was established under the 1949 contract -- a major remedy against seasonal fluctuations and discriminatory or arbitrary hiring practices; after a period of adjustment this no-fee agency was fully functioning by 1951, when 22,000 jobs were supplied to members. A Health Center, offering free basic medical care to hotel workers and their families, was opened in 1950. In 1966 the Hotel Trades Council established the Neighborhood Service Councils, which provided members with a wide range of services, from housing assistance to legal advice and medical referrals. It has also run a Hotel Industry Training Program, including a school for for young people seeking work in the industry and for workers interested in upgraing or changing their category of employment.

Over the years the Council expanded to include unionized painters, telephone operators, maintenance workers, upholsterers, clerical workers and others employed in hotels, restaurants and clubs. By the 1980s, when the Council was headed by Rubin's successor, Vito J. Pitta, the HTC represented 25,000 members affiliated with nine locals of eight international unions. While continuing to struggle against economic downturns, and anti-union or dishonest employers, especially in smaller enterprises throughout the City, the Council claims to offer, through its contracts, the best wages and benefits available to hotel workers anywhere in the world.

Arrangement

Minutes are arranged by type of meeting, and; other series are arranged alphabetically.

The files are organized into seven series:

Missing Title

  1. Minutes, 1938-1986
  2. Presidents' Files, 1943-1990
  3. General Files, 1930s-1989
  4. Hotel Files, 1930s-1986
  5. Neighborhood Service Councils, 1961-1976
  6. Unprocessed Material, 1950s-1990.
  7. Archived Website

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of administrative files of the Council, correspondence and other files of Council presidents Jay Rubin and Vito Pitta, an extensive series of files arranged by the names of individual hotels, and records of the welfare funds and social service programs amdinistered by the Council.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for most materials in this collection, created by the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Any rights for non-print materials (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council were transferred to New York University in 1997 by Peter Ward. Permission to publish or reproduce non-print materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council Records; WAG 123; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive; New York University Libraries.

Location of Materials

Materials stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu at least two business days prior to research visit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Given on deposit by the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council via two donations, in 1996 and 2007, under an agreement with Peter Ward, President of the Council. The accession number associated with this collection is 1997.026.

Custodial History

The archived website was migrated from the California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service to the Internet Archive's Archive-It Service in November 2015. The link to California Digital Library was removed in October 2017.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Separated Material

Photographs were separated and established as the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council Photographs (PHOTOS 097). Films were separated and established as the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council Films (FILMS 011).

Collection processed by

Porsche Martin, Ted Casselman, Janet Greene and Gail Malmgreen, 1999; 2003; 2010

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:29:14 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information

In 2014, the archived website was added as Series VII. Materials separated from the original collection, including graphics, clippings, photostats, certificates, and a banner, were reintegrated February 2018 into Series VI: Unprocessed materials.

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012