Union pickets over contract dispute at Hilton Albany Hotel

Union leaders are urging a boycott of the Hilton Albany hotel over a labor contract dispute with its Long Island-based owners.

Members of the Hotel Trades Council started picketing outside the Lodge Street hotel on Thursday to protest contract demands being made by United Capital Corp. of Great Neck, L.I., that call for elimination of the pension plan and other concessions.

"These demands are mean-spirited," said Rich Maroko, an executive vice president and general counsel for the union, which represents about 35,000 hospitality workers statewide. The union represents about 600 workers at the new Rivers Casino in Schenectady.

The union represents about 140 people at the Hilton, who work as room attendants, bell staff, engineers, front desk staff, bartenders, cooks and food service workers. The union's  labor contract expired in April.
An online notice from the state Mental Health Department indicates a planned conference for Monday and Tuesday was moved from the Hilton Albany to the Empire State Plaza conference center.

"We are aware of a disagreement between management and labor and wanted to find a suitable location," said department spokesman James Plastiras on Friday.

The 385-room, 17-story hotel first opened in 1980 as the Albany Hilton and its workers have long been unionized.

It later became an Omni and then a Crowne Plaza, before returning as a Hilton under owners from Texas. United Capital Corp. purchased the hotel in 2015 and operates seven other hotels in six states under franchise pacts with DoubleTree by Hilton and Radisson.

Maroko said United Capital, which is negotiating its first contract with the union, wants to replace the pension with a 10-cent an hour match to a 401(k) plan. Such a plan would cost the corporation about $5,200 for someone who worked there for 25 years, he said.

Other demands include cutting paid bereavement days from five to three, loss of a week of paid vacation time, and reduction of minimum guaranteed pay for workers called in on on their days off.

David Hayes, regional director of operations for United Capital, said the company was "kind of surprised" that picketing had started ahead of the next scheduled contract bargaining session with the union on Sept. 28.
Hayes said he did not want to "negotiate" contractual issues in the newspaper, adding the company would "negotiate in good faith" with the union.

This is not the first time that United Capital has clashed with local unions. In December 2015, the Capital Region Building and Construction Trades Council urged a boycott over the company's use of nonunion workers during a $16 million renovation project.

That prompted the Public Employees Federation, which represents white-collar state workers, to pull an executive board meeting in support of the boycott

Source: Times Union