The great pandemic of 2020 has had massive impact throughout all segments of foodservice. So, news that New York City’s largest hotel is set to take food and beverage in a different direction may not be stunning on the surface. However, the size and scope of the Marriott Marquis food and beverage operation is eye opening.
The 1,966 room Times Square facility of the Marriott Marquis has confirmed that they will be outsourcing their entire restaurant and catering operations. The hotel has in fact gone out to bid with a contract that is estimated to be worth in excess of $50 million per year.
The Request For Proposal process has begun with contract feeders being invited to bid on the Marquis contract. It is expected that finalists will be selected this month and that the contract will go into effect on May 15, 2022.
The move comes on the heels of the termination in December of approximately 850 Marriott employees in the Food & Beverage Department and in some other departments, including housekeeping.
As with many New York City hotels, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to Marriott looking to reduce costs in New York and other major markets across the country by shedding long-term employees and replacing them with a subcontracted workforce. In unionized Marriott hotels in New York City, union workers did not have their jobs subcontracted, shining a spotlight on the importance of union protections.
With foodservice off the table, the local Hotel Trades Council Union set its sights on unionizing housekeeping workers. “Our union already had an ongoing organizing effort in progress, including a strong organizing committee who were doing their best to convince their coworkers to sign up with the Union,” Director of Organizing Julia Rybak remarked.
This led to the successful unionization of the Marquis housekeeping staff last month. “The shock of the massive food and beverage termination provided the final push to give the Union a super-majority,” Rybak continued. “This is a bittersweet victory because 850 Marquis workers learned, too late, that corporations are not driven by sentimental feelings like loyalty.”
Now the Union represents both the Marquis and the Marriott Downtown, which was organized on December 10th, and the Union intends to negotiate excellent contracts as soon as possible.
Workers in the hotel’s Food and Beverage department were told they would not receive priority to be rehired if their positions eventually return. There had been discussion with City Councilmember Brad Lander’s office about introducing a “Right to Recall” bill at the city level, which would require employers to re-hire former workers if their jobs come back.
It would seem as if the end result is that HTC-Union picked its battle and that was to choose between housekeeping and food and beverage. “Even though it took longer than we would have liked, we are delighted that the Marriott Marquis is now a union hotel and we warmly welcome the Marquis workers into our ranks,” added HTC President Rich Maroko. “As challenging as this crisis has been for our 40,000 members and their families, the workers we represent can rest assured that when tourism comes back to New York City, they will have the legal right to go back to their jobs.”
