NYC Hotel Workers Ratify Contract Raising Housekeeper Pay to $77,113

The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council ratified a new contract Thursday covering 22,000 hotel workers. The agreement raises starting pay for housekeepers and increases automatic tips for group events. Under the contract, housekeepers will earn $77,113 beginning July 1. Pay will reach $110,000 in salary alone by the sixth year.

Current housekeeper annual pay stands at $72,000, with some workers already exceeding $100,000. A new police officer starts at $60,884, a rookie firefighter at $54,122, and a teacher with a master's degree at $77,455. Hotel owners will pay $107,958 per employee annually when benefits are included, rising to about $154,000 by the eighth year.

The contract adds Juneteenth as a paid holiday and maintains five weeks of vacation plus sick days.

The agreement ended a strike threat that had affected reservations for upcoming city events. Automatic tips for group meals and banquets will rise from 15 percent to 20 percent this year. A hotel owner on the bargaining committee said negotiations began at $40 per hour. The same owner stated the person who cleans rooms will earn more than school teachers and police officers.

Eighteen hotels have closed since the pandemic, eliminating more than 6,000 jobs and reducing union membership from 30,000 to 22,000. Hotel Association President Vijay Dandapani said operating costs have risen every year since 2012 while operating income has fallen to single digits.

The union had prepared for a possible strike by supporting changes to state unemployment benefits last year. Those changes shortened the waiting period and raised the maximum weekly payout from $504 to $869.