Mid-way through 2012, the Hotel Association of New York City and the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council, AFL-CIO (the “Union”), renewed a seven-year collective bargaining agreement known as the Industry Wide Agreement, or IWA.  While the IWA controls nearly all aspects of the employer-employee relationship for covered hospitality organizations, it does much more and can potentially bind the unsuspecting.  One important part of the agreement which hospitality employers must heed is the “accretion clause,” which has the potential to bind non-signatory parties to the terms of the IWA.  An already powerful document, the renewed IWA increased the reach of the accretion clause to not only signatory corporations and individuals, but also to related companies and entities.  This can complicate an already multi-layered industry whose members often use third-parties to manage or operate their businesses—as well as potentially increase the labor costs exponentially for those businesses.
Continue Reading AFL-CIO’s Industry Wide Agreement May Have Wide Reach in Hospitality Industry