Page 4 -- (Labor Pains - The Birth of a Contract)

Even after the contract was signed, there was still work for the union and its members. Although several of the major hotels signed quickly, others held out, and the stubborn ones had to be picketed.

It took years of further effort before the New York City hotel industry became virtually 100% organized. Among the important victories won in its first contract was the insertion of a clause banning discrimination in the industry. This has been a feature of every contract since and has enabled the union to make step-by-step progress against this evil.

Picket lines at the Savoy-Plaza Hotel.

Section of an early annual report to the union's membership.

Mindful of the health care needs of hotel workers and their families, the union, in 1944, negotiated the first insurance program in the hotel industry providing for family hospitalization and sickness and disability benefits.

1950 witnessed the establishment of the Union Health Center, which brought workers and their families a full range of specialist services, at the Center and in hospitals, at no cost to them. In 1956, the facilities of the Health Center were made available to union pensioners. And in 1962, the first Family Medical Office was opened, providing every kind of walk-in and hospital care to workers and their family members.

Dedication of the union-management health center.

Pension Service Program representative in home visit to retirees.

The union has not neglected the right of hotel workers to security in their retirement. As early as 1952, it got the employers to start payments into a fund from which pensions would be paid. The first monthly pension checks, with a basic benefit of $40 per month, were mailed out in 1955. Since then, the pension benefits have been continually improved and thousands of hotel workers have been able to retire on pensions to supplement their Social Security benefits.

The Hotel and Motel Trades Council has also initiated a Pensioner Service Program under which staff representatives visit workers at their homes and provide them with a variety of services - including advice on Social Security benefits, how they can make the best use of union health services and information on other benefits to which they may be entitled.

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