New York Hotel Union Contract Takes Effect July 1, Raising Wages Above $40 an Hour

A new contract between the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and hundreds of New York hotels was ratified and takes effect on July 1, Washington Examiner reported. Under the agreement, hotel workers’ wages will exceed $40 an hour this summer and could approach $60 an hour by the end of the eight-year contract. The previous HTC contract included annual hourly wage increases of $1.00.

At the end of that contract, hourly wages for room attendants in New York were just under $40. HTC President Rich Maroko negotiated the New York contract. His compensation package is nearly $1 million, Washington Examiner reported.

Since March 2025, New York City has lost roughly 14,500 leisure and hospitality jobs. Employment in the city’s hospitality sector was growing before the pandemic but hotels were locked into the prior contract during the recovery period. In Los Angeles, a 2022 city-wide minimum wage ordinance raised the minimum wage for most area hotels to nearly $19 an hour.

Hotel jobs in Los Angeles County were down 1.7% in December 2025 compared to the year prior. A new Los Angeles ordinance will raise wages for hotel workers to $30 an hour by 2030. Charlyce Bozzello is communications director at the Center for Union Facts, a nonprofit organization that fights for transparency and accountability in America’s labor movement.