Revealed to be unionized workers fighting for a decent living!
Commentary / Analysis:
In the last few weeks, Jersey City residents have been inundated with flyers from Airbnb and messages from Airbnb surrogates claiming that the “Hotel Lobby” got to Mayor Fulop and that is why he has soured on the 500% increase in Airbnb units in Jersey City since 2015.
We, the residents producing this web site, have received three different flyers from the Hotel Trades Council (HTC) – a paltry number compared to the eleven (11) and counting from Airbnb, aka #KeepOurHome$JC.
HTCs detractors have claimed that Hotel Trades Council is the hotel lobby and claim that because these mailers are coming from a NYC address, they must be an outside faction meddling in local matters.
Now this ‘Hotel Trades Council’ is finally being exposed for what they really are: a trade union fighting for a decent living for their members!
Who/What is the Hotel Trades Council?
Despite the corporate sounding name, Hotel Trades Council is the labor union for non-managerial hotel workers. Their members are workers in housekeeping, public space, dining room, banquet, room service, kitchen, facilities, etc.
https://hotelworkers.org/about/who-we-are
Why is a New York organization campaigning in Jersey City?
Like many other organizations, HTC’s New York City office covers northern New Jersey – including Jersey City, Hoboken, Newark and Morristown. The members organized out of New York City work at local hotels in Jersey City: Candlewood Suites, Doubletree by Hilton Hotel & Suites, Hyatt Regency and Westin. And some of their members also live in Jersey City – they are part of the local community.
But even if the union had not represented Jersey City workers, another reason NYC based hotel workers care about this referendum is that most JC visitors come here for NYC, and spend their time and money there. These visitors would have stayed in NYC hotels had there not been so many Jersey City Airbnb units available. Note: They would not have stayed in NYC Airbnbs, because whole home short-term rentals (whole apartments and houses) are more or less banned in NYC.
In other words, if there hadn’t been such an explosion in unregulated Jersey City Airbnb operations, more visitors to NYC would stay in NYC hotels, and the unionized workers from HTC would have better job security and prospects.
Instead of working at a NYC Hotel, can’t these workers just work at Airbnb operations in Jersey City?
First thing to note is that many of these workers’ jobs simply don’t exist at Airbnbs – there are no kitchens or chefs, no security detail, no night-porters or similar that looks after property at night at a de-facto Airbnb hotel. So substituting real hotels and hotel rooms in commercial districts with de-facto Airbnb hotel units in a residential neighborhood would leave many hotel workers unemployed.
Second thing is that even those jobs that do exist at an Airbnb, specifically housekeeping, are in many ways worse when performed at an Airbnb; the union workers know this and don’t want to be forced into the unpredictable ‘gig economy’.
Hotel rooms are cleaned every day. At an Airbnb, they are often only cleaned when guests leave, so there is less work and it is irregular. Some weeks an Airbnb cleaner may make a fair amount of money, but next week they may not. At a hotel, the cleaning staff receives a regular pay check and do not have to live with an uncertain salary.
Airbnb cleaning staff will also need to travel between properties and may not be paid for their commuting. They would not get health care or paid sick leave. They would not have paid vacation. In short these Airbnb cleaning jobs lack benefits that are important in a good job, and many of us take for granted.
Airbnb has themselves realized this and instituted a living pay pledge. This program is optional for hosts – it’s up to the hosts to decide if they want to participate and decide if they want to pay the cleaners, what Airbnb claims, is a decent living wage. And many hosts don’t. The second thing about this $15 dollar an hour pledge is that unionized hotel workers make twice that – so they would see their paycheck SLASHED IN HALF if working for Airbnb.
It is clear why hotel workers are getting involved in this ballot measure in Jersey City – their livelihoods and ability to make a decent living depends on it.
What about the hotel workers union’s campaign messaging?
The three different flyers that we have received from the HTC labor union have primarily focused on issues that face JC residents – noise, garbage, safety, and rising rents. And while these are pressing issues for many residents, and some hotel workers union members are also Jersey City residents, I can see that this claimed concern for Jersey City could be perceived as ‘ringing hollow’ when coming from a NYC address.
This message in combination with the hotel workers union’s out of state mailing address (even though their members are Jersey City-based) and corporate-sounding name (even though they are a workers’ union) provides the Airbnb propaganda apparatus and surrogates with an easy target.
A simple, straightforward message from the labor union such as “Support our jobs and protect our ability to make a decent living!” would possibly have more direct appeal to voters and higher impact.
Turning Tables: Who is really the little guy trying to make a living and who is the corporate lobbying apparatus?
It has been claimed that the outside powers that have descended on Jersey City with millions of dollars have been:
- the grassroots and sharing-economy champion Airbnb, which is rooting for the little guy
- vs.
- the Hotel Lobby, representing corporate interests
But having peeled the onion, the two outside powers that have got involved in Jersey City are really:
- The Airbnb Inc. lobbying machine trying to show investors that they have the muscles to fend off regulations on their business. If they cannot do that, in light of similar and stricter regulations being enacted across the US and abroad, their IPO valuation will suffer and windfall for executives will be reduced
- the labor union trying to advocate for their members (cleaning staff, etc) to have good jobs and make a decent living.
A letter by HTC union president Peter Ward (from 2016 on a tangential matter) sums up why the HTC labor union is getting involved:
“My members stand to lose thousands of good jobs that pay room cleaners more than $30 per hour with free family health coverage, a pension, a full package of other important benefits, and all the rights of a real union contract. These are real members working union hotel jobs today, supporting their families now, and their livelihoods are being threatened by Airbnb.”
We find that argument to be compelling.
Links
In 2016 SEIU was planning to form an alliance with airbnb, but after heavy criticism it was called off.
https://checksandbalancesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/4.18.16-Ward-Letter.pdf
Jersey City Short-Term Rental Facts 