Lawmakers in New York City are aiming to fundamentally change the relationship between local hotels and any outside parties contracted to run their bars, restaurants or nightclubs, a common arrangement in the lodging business.
Legislation set to be aired at a City Council meeting Tuesday would require all individuals working within a hotel to be employed wholly or jointly by the property’s owner, even if their job is within a restaurant or other food and beverage component managed by a third party. The measure does not spell out what joint employment would entail.
The hotel could essentially outsource management of those workers, but only if a majority of its total staff is unionized and covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
The same stipulations would apply to third parties that manage a property’s room service or banquet operations.
“If enacted into law, this legislation will essentially terminate countless leases and management agreements as they’re structured between third-party food & beverage companies and the hotels in which they operate,” the New York City Hospitality Alliance, a trade group for restaurants and bars in the city, said in a message to members seeking their immediate resistance to the proposal. The communication was tagged “Urgent,” the group’s equivalent of “Read this now.”
The Alliance said a restaurant or bar would be subject to the labor specifications if there is any way a hotel guest could access the facility without having to go outside. It cites the examples of rooftop bars that are accessible via a lobby elevator, or a ground floor restaurant whose front door opens onto the street but has a second entrance off the hotel lobby.
The provisions relating to restaurants and bars are only a small section of the bill. In its entirety, the measure aims to restructure the employment structures of hotels. For instance, it specifies how many front-desk employees need to be at their station at any given time (at least one, plus an additional staffer for every 200 rooms in the property), and how many security guards have to be on duty at any given time (one per every 100 rooms).
In addition, the proposal calls for gathering wage information on every position and making it publicly available, presumably as a guide for workers who are weighing whether to apply for a job. Hotels would be required to gather and retain the information for up to three years.
The bill’s stated goal is to establish a new licensing process for hotels, with properties having to meet the exact labor provisions that are spelled out if they hope to qualify for approval. The license would carry an annual fee of $200.
The Hospitality Alliance was asking its membership to attend next Tuesday’s City Council meeting in person to voice their disapproval of the bill. On Sunday, the trade group alerted members that the meeting had been suddenly canceled and has yet to be rescheduled.
The measure already has the co-sponsorship of 24 of the Council’s 51 members, meaning it would need only two additional votes to pass.
The proposal comes at a transitional time for New York City’s lodging industry. The trade has been combatting the proliferation of short-term and illegal rentals of apartments or bedrooms by private individuals. A number of old-line residential properties have recast themselves as hotels. And at least several properties have turned into government-funded housing for migrants transported from the Mexican border as they await consideration of their asylum appeals.
Update: The proposal has been taken off the agenda of Tuesday's meeting by one of the bill's sponsors, according to the Hospitality Alliance.
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