There is an interesting history behind the benefits and services that Hotel Trades Council members and their families enjoy. Our benefits and services, and the funds that make them available have set precedents for workers in many other cities and in many other industries.
The creation of our medical fund and the benefits it provides was not easy. To begin such an innovative program, special New York State legislation was required. That legislation was enacted through coordinated efforts of the Hotel Trades Council and the Hotel Association. Those efforts resulted in the needed legislation being introduced and passed in the State Assembly and Senate, and then being signed into law by Governor Thomas Dewey in 1949.
Our Medical Program, which is self-insured, has since served as the model for many others. Even today, over 50 years after our medical fund was initiated, other organizations are adopting the concepts of our own program.
The Industry Training Program (“ITP”) has also served as a model for similar schools in other industries. It is estimated that more than 25,000 hotel workers and their family members have utilized the school since its inception.
Our Dental Program and Optical Program, both of which began in the 1970’s, are also the result of collective bargaining between the Union and Hotel Employers. These programs have been expanded over the years. As an example, free dental service was only available to members of the Union. Now, of course, the free dental service is also available to spouses and dependents of members. Our Life Insurance program was initiated in 1978, and the benefits it pays have been increased in subsequent years.
In 1985, through collective bargaining between the Hotel Trades Council and the Hotel Association, two new and unique benefits, the Scholarship Fund and the Pre-Paid Legal Program were extended to the Union workers and their families.
The success of the scholarship and legal programs is unparalleled. The Hotel Association-Hotel Trades Council Scholarship Fund is the largest college grant program provided anywhere in the world through a collective bargaining agreement. Since 1987, when the program began awarding college scholarships to children of the Union members, almost $6 million in grants have been provided to over 740 students.
The Pre-Paid Legal Fund has assisted many Union workers and their family members since services were initiated in 1987. The program provides expert attorney service, at no cost to members, for a wide range of legal matters. Like many of our other benefits, the Pre-Paid Legal Fund has attained an unqualified success that has caused it to serve as a model for similar legal plans instituted by many other unions and employers.
The benefits and services enjoyed by Union members and their families are provided by employer-provided funds, meaning that the Union’s members do not pay anything to sustain these programs. These benefits and services are jointly administered by the Council and the Association through each fund’s Board of Trustees. The Trustees are not only responsible for keeping the funds financially healthy, they work very hard to try to expand services whenever possible. Examples of this are the expansion of Dental services to spouses and dependents in 1979, the expansion of the Pre-Paid Legal Fund to hotel pensioners and their spouses in 1994, and the expansion of Medical, Dental, and Insurance benefits to domestic partners in 1996.
In 1998, a Pharmacy benefit was added and the Optical program vendor was changed so that members’ dependents and pensioners could enjoy the benefit.
Copyright © 2010 NYHTC & HANYC, Inc. Employee Benefit Funds