Hotel Trades Council

Contract Fight Director

Based at our office in Midtown, Manhattan NY

 

Who we are:
HTC is the union for hotel and gaming workers in New York and New Jersey. We are widely recognized as having the best contracts for hospitality workers in the world. Our largely immigrant membership enjoys a middle-class lifestyle with high wages, free family healthcare, an excellent pension in retirement, fair workloads, and many rights on the job. This is unheard of in an industry where workers are generally exploited and living in poverty.

Unlike many unions, our union is getting stronger. Our membership is growing – increasing from 25,000 to over 40,000 workers in the last decade. Our members appreciate their union and are willing to fight for nothing short of what they deserve. Thousands of members volunteer with the union each year. Their activism, along with the work of our talented elected leaders and staff, have made our union a formidable opponent in grievance meetings, at the bargaining table, and in state and local politics.

If you want to fight for social justice and win, this is the best place to do it.

The Role:
We’re looking to hire an experienced, creative, and passionate individual to lead our union’s contract fight campaigns, with the goal of negotiating contracts that raise our union's standards. Our organization’s mission is to improve the lives of our members by advocating for, protecting, and empowering workers in the hotel and gaming industries. We accomplish this in many ways, but at our core, it is by using our collective power, economic pressure, and outside-the-box strategy to force employers to sign and live up to legally binding contracts.

The Contract Fight Director will coordinate efforts by our union’s organizing, legal, member mobilization, political, communications, and research teams during negotiations. Their responsibilities would include:

• Recommend and execute the union’s strategy during each campaign;
• Regularly meet with union-represented workers to update them on the union’s efforts, collect information, and mobilize them for upcoming actions;
• Coordinate and prepare for bargaining sessions alongside the union’s elected leadership, legal and organizing teams;
• Coordinate strike and picket line operations;
• Oversee boycott operations and come up with creative ways to exert economic pressure on employers;
• Work with the communications department to create print and digital media for boycotts, strikes, rallies, and other actions during a campaign;
• Make requests of the union’s research department, contribute to corporate campaign strategy, and execute next steps with other department heads;
• Coordinate with the legal department and workers to ensure the prompt filing of any legal charges;
• Contribute to press strategy;
• Identify and coordinate the union’s response to changes and actions by management from certification through contract ratification;
• Oversee the logistics for ratifying a newly won contract; and
• Hire, train, develop and manage department staff.

Schedule:
This is an in-person position based at our office in Midtown, Manhattan. Travel may be required.

Required Qualifications:

• Demonstrated strong work ethic; ability to pivot quickly and juggle multiple priorities;
• Capacity to synthesize and communicate complex information in a manner that’s easily understood;
• Ability to communicate respectfully and comfortably with people from diverse backgrounds and to inspire workers to take action;
• Detail-oriented and organized, with the ability to keep various teams on track;
• Experience managing multiple staff; and
• Willingness to work long hours and, when necessary, lead contract fights outside of New York City including in Upstate New York, Long Island, New Jersey, other cities when requested.

Extra consideration will be given for any of the following qualifications:

• Bilingual (in addition to English), especially in Spanish, Cantonese, or Mandarin;
• Experience in any of the following areas: bargaining, bottom-up organizing, or coordinating corporate campaigns, or public contract fights; or
• Law degree.

Pay:
$120,000 – $150,000

How to Apply:
Please submit your 1) résumé, 2) cover letter, and 3) portfolio to: careers@nyhtc.org, with the subject line “Contract Fight Director” The cover letter should be clear and concise and explain the specific reasons for your interest in the position and specify (with appropriate explanation) which of each of the listed qualifications you possess and which ones you do not possess.

The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO, is an equal opportunity employer. All persons regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, religious affiliation and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply.