Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO

New York, NY

This is the 2025 fellowship description for this mentor organization.

The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO (Hotel Trades Council, or HTC, for short) is the union for hotel and gaming workers in New York State and Northern New Jersey. Our union represents approximately 40,000 non-managerial employees working in all hotel and gaming departments. More than 300 hotels and other related businesses employ our members and are under contract with our union. This accounts for approximately 75% of the hotel industry within the five boroughs of New York City.

The Hotel Trades Council was formed in the late 1930's in a massive city-wide campaign to organize the hotel industry. For over eighty years, our union has been a powerful force for social justice, progress, and human rights. The membership of our union is united and militant, but also incredibly diverse. They come from many nations and backgrounds and speak more than 50 languages. The workers represented by our union enjoy the best union contract for hotel workers in the world, guaranteeing excellent wages, benefits, working conditions, and standards of fair treatment.

Our Peggy Browning Fellow will have a rare opportunity to see the day-to-day workings of a strong and growing union. The Fellow will be included in every facet of the Legal Department's involvement, including bargaining, contract drafting, ratifications with members, and much more.

Duties and responsibilities may include, but not be limited to, the following:

Assist the Generals Counsel and Staff Attorneys in all legal matters;
Review, and on some occasions assist in drafting: contracts, requests for information, position statements, and other general legal correspondence;
Analyze information furnished by employers as part of bargaining or investigation;
Participate in all aspects of HTC's operations (including picket lines, strikes, job actions, etc.);
Assist in drafting arbitration demands, investigating, and preparing witnesses and cases;
Assist in representing HTC in mediation, arbitration, litigation, and other fora;
Assist in handling unfair labor practice charges and advocate at NLRB proceedings;
Perform legal research.

The Fellow will be in close contact with attorneys at the Union as well as outside counsel from a labor-side firm.

The total ten-week stipend for this fellowship will be $10,000.

Address cover letter to:
Gregory Fries, Staff Attorney
Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO
707 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10036