By: Hellen Zaboulani

A powerful city union is pushing for a new bill to ban Big Apple hotels from contracting out certain front-line jobs.

As reported by the NY Post, the same group does plenty of its own outsourcing to manage its Manhattan headquarters — including to some non-union firms. The Hotel Trades Council who has been pushing for the legislation has itself spent over $700,000 in contracts with outside firms over the past 10 years, per city records. The outsourced work for the group includes maintenance and cleaning services for its offices at 701-709 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan, per records filed with the US Labor Department.

‘HTC/Local 6 Unite Here’ spent over $240,000 on a non-union cleaning company, Sterling Cleaning Services, in 2022-2023. As reported by the Post, it also paid over $53,000 to RJR Maintenance Group, which is a non-union company. The union also used outside contracts on millions of dollars for legal, consultant, and computer services annually. Records show that in 2023 alone, the union spent $2,149,365 for legal counsel, $109,296 for computer services, $83,000 for political consulting, and $702,568 for general consultant. HTC/Unite Here Local 6, is led by chief financial Officer Marcia Azeez. The union owns 701-707 Eighth Ave. and 709-715 Eighth Ave. through a subsidiary named Hacels, LLC.

Despite their own contracted expenditures, the union has been pushing legislation that would bar hotels from contacting out core employees, including housekeeping and maintenance – insisting these workers need to be employed directly by the hotels. Per the Post, proponents of the bill, which is sponsored by city Councilwoman Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), and who is vying a run for council speaker, touts the bill as a pro-safety, pro-consumer and pro-worker measure. They add that, aside from giving jobs to union workers, the bill could help combat sex-trafficking, since hotel workers would be more steady and could more easily spot unusual and potentially illicit activity.

Critics of the legislation include hotel owners, who say the law would deny owners and managers the flexibility to manage their property, and hurt an industry that is already ailing. Vijay Dandapani, President and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, said it’s critical that New York hotels have that flexibility to outsource work.

“Both union and non-union hotels have an absolute need to hire outsourced labor for different needs both due to keeping costs in check as well as doing tasks that union labor (in union hotels) will not or cannot do,” Dandapani said in a statement. “Non-union hotels, particularly smaller ones in the outer boroughs, keep costs down in a very high cost of operating environment as New York City has the highest operating costs in the nation along with the highest real estate tax levy,” Dandapani added.

Critics of the bill have also said that the union’s push for the bill is blatant hypocrisy. “The hotel union’s crusade against outsourcing is nothing but hypocritical theater,” said Charlyce Bozzello, communications director of the Center for Union Facts, a union watchdog group. “It’s outrageous that they’re pushing for regulations they themselves flout by outsourcing their own key services. Their double standard should make workers question the union’s true intentions,” Bozzello said.

The HTC union responded to the Post saying that comparing its own outsource spending to that of hotels is off-base.