New York hotel workers union reaches deal to avoid strike ahead of World Cup
Eight-year contract between union and hospitality industry group will boost pay of hotel housekeepers to over $100,000
A deal between a New York hotel union and an hospitality industry group is set to boost the earnings of hotel housekeepers to more than$100,000, as part of a pact to avoid threatened strike action during the Fifa World Cup beginning in June.
The eight-year contract agreement between the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council – representing 27,000 hotel workers – and the Hotel Association of New York City, which represents 250 hotels, establishes 50% wage raises along with free family healthcare, increased pension contributions, new benefit funds and expanded rights at work, union officials said.
The terms of the deal were announced on Monday, on the same day that unions representing Long Island railroad workers called off a strike that had for three days crippled the rail transport system into the city.
The hotel workers’ deal will raise the housekeepers’ pay of nearly $40 an hour to more than $61 hourly over eight years.
“Wage increases were our primary focus in this contract cycle because the cost of living for our members has been increasing so dramatically,” the union’s president,Rich Maroko, told the New York Times.
The hotel association’s president, Vijay Dandapani, said in a statement to the Guardian that his group was “proud the New York hotel industry will continue to provide the best pay and benefits in the country”.
But Dandapani also cautioned that the group’s members were facing “tremendous economic headwinds” and exceptionally high taxes. He said 20,000 hotel rooms had been lost since the Covid-19 pandemic, and demand had not fully recovered.
Anticipated demand for hotel rooms for the World Cup has failed to materialize. Data from the commercial real estate company CoStar shows that bookings at many hotels in New York City area are only about one-third filled, or nearly 12% below levels in 2025.
New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said recently that soccer fans may be waiting until second-round matchups are finalized.
Eight games are scheduled for the area, including the final, at New Jersey’s MetLife stadium.
A pressure group, fifahotelstrike.org, had warned that the hotel workers union’s existing contract was set to expire midway through the games. It spoke of “a distinct possibility that there will be strikes, pickets, and lockouts at some [New York City] hotels during the 2026 FIFA World Cup”.
The group invited supporters to pledge: “If workers go on strike or call for a boycott, I will not eat, sleep, or meet at the hotel. Under [city] law, guests have the right to cancel their reservations and get a full refund in the event of a strike, and I commit to exercise that right.”
After the contract deal was announced, Mamdani said in a statement that it “is a win for our hospitality industry, our economy and for a city that works best when the people who keep it running can afford to live here, too”.
Beyond staving off threatened strike action during the World Cup, the hoteliers union deal has raised concerns that New York City hotel room rates will need to rise to offset higher labor costs.
According to CoStar, New York City has the highest average room rates of any major US city, at about $335 a night. New York City, however, also has the nation’s highest occupancy rate.
If but Dandapani also cautioned that the group’s members were facing “tremendous economic headwinds” and exceptionally high taxes, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
But Dandapani also cautioned that the group’s members were facing “tremendous economic headwinds” and exceptionally high taxes. Meanwhile anticipated demand for hotel rooms for the World Cup has failed to materialize.
What stands out is new York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said recently that soccer fans may be waiting until second-round matchups are finalized. That is the part worth paying attention to.
In other words but Dandapani also cautioned that the group’s members were facing “tremendous economic headwinds” and exceptionally high taxes. Curious to see how this develops.
Long Island has been pushing this agenda for a while now.
In other words anticipated demand for hotel rooms for the World Cup has failed to materialize. Curious to see how this develops.
Think about it: new York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said recently that soccer fans may be waiting until second-round matchups are finalized. That speaks volumes.
Basically anticipated demand for hotel rooms for the World Cup has failed to materialize. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
So the bottom line is new York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said recently that soccer fans may be waiting until second-round matchups are finalized. Wonder how this will land.
Reading that eight-year contract between union and hospitality industry group will boost pay of hotel housekeepers to over — hard to argue with the logic there.
Reading that but Dandapani also cautioned that the group’s members were facing “tremendous economic headwinds” and exceptionally high taxes — hard to argue with the logic there.
Think about it: anticipated demand for hotel rooms for the World Cup has failed to materialize. That speaks volumes.
Anticipated demand for hotel rooms for the World Cup has failed to materialize. Meanwhile new York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said recently that soccer fans may be waiting until second-round matchups are finalized.
The fact that new York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said recently that soccer fans may be waiting until second-round matchups are finalized really puts things into perspective.
On one hand the hotel workers’ deal will raise the housekeepers’ pay of nearly $40 an hour to more than $61 hourly over eight years. But at the same time but Dandapani also cautioned that the group’s members were facing “tremendous economic headwinds” and exceptionally high taxes.