Queens Workers Slam Legislators for Anti-Labor Policies
Standing outside of a non-union Comfort Inn receiving $237,644 in ICIP tax breaks, Councilman Joe Addabbo joined with members of the Hotel Trades Council (HTC), 32BJ, RWDSU, CWA, and UFCW to voice their opposition to the ICIP program, which gives hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to companies, with no requirements that they create quality jobs, instead of helping to support small businesses and companies that pay decent wages and provide benefits. Highlighting the hotel industry, which reports positive growth in the City yet gets a significant amount of ICIP assistance, Addabbo criticized the ICIP reform legislation, which passed in June, for failing to include any requirements that companies that get corporate welfare create quality jobs or other mechanisms to ensure that tax breaks go to companies that need the help. Addabbo also highlighted his opponent Serf Maltese’s 2004 vote against raising the minimum wage to $7.15. Maltese was the only Senator south of Poughkeepsie to oppose the increase, which ultimately passed.
“Currently, there is no oversight of the ICIP program to ensure job creation, nor does the legislation require that companies pay employees a living wage or provide benefits. We need to both grow the economy and lower the cost of living by providing good jobs that offer health benefits, fair pay, and pensions. Albany is essentially bankrolling these projects, many of which are of questionable value, on the backs of working families,” said Councilman Addabbo.
“If we are going to give public dollars away, the money should be spent responsibly. ICIP money must be tied to standards that ensure workers such as security officers and food service workers are paid family-sustaining wages and health care,” said Kevin Doyle, Local 32BJ Executive Vice President. “It’s time to reform the ICIP system and help create good, middle class jobs for the residents of Queens and all New Yorkers.”
The hotel industry exemplifies many of the problems with the program, including its lack of discretion and lack of job quality requirements. Forty Queens hotels are eligible for the subsidy; thirty three of them were built since 1997, during the current hotel boom. Most of the Queens hotels are clustered near JFK and LaGuardia airports, with some exceptions. Because ICIP is an as-of-right program, with no discretion for local elected officials, there is no opportunity to decide if a given project is worth subsidizing. Only 32% of all hotels city-wide that are subsidized are union hotels, with clear wage standards, health care and pensions.
Given the industry's strong performance over the last few years, it is hard to understand why these high-value properties should enjoy such a high level of subsidization under ICIP when there is no guarantee that they will provide their workers the quality wages and benefits that union hotels provide.
“Because I work at a union hotel,” explained Brian Gaffney, a member of the Hotel Trades Council, who lives in Glendale, “I have decent wages, health benefits and a pension. Workers at non-union hotels often do not.”
“My co-workers and I at the Crowne Plaza LaGuardia do not have the benefit of a union contract,” explained Ulises Moscoso. “Many of my co-workers can’t afford health insurance and when they or their kids get sick they have to go to the emergency room or rely on public programs like Child Health Plus. State Senators like Senator Maltese should stop giving tax breaks to companies like this.”
Only 32% of hotels eligible for ICIP are union shops -- nearly all of them (87%) are in Manhattan. By contrast, almost none of the hotels in the outer boroughs that are eligible for ICIP are union shops: three in Queens (8.1%); one in Brooklyn (7.7%); and 0% in the Bronx and Staten Island. In all, 93% of hotels receiving ICIP in the outer boroughs are non-union shops. None of the union shops are in hotels that are newly constructed (ie: in the last ten years); in all likelihood, every one of the union hotels is receiving ICIP as a result of renovations.
Outside of Manhattan, 84% of non-union hotels (and 78% of all hotels) receiving ICIP tax breaks are new construction projects.
Below is a chart showing this breakdown. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of hotels that are new construction projects:
Click on Chart to Enlarge
"When elected officials like Serf Maltese vote against raising the minimum wage he hurts all workers. And when elected officials like Serf Maltese don't mandate that businesses receiving subsidies from programs like ICIP pay living wages and benefits, he hurts all workers. Joe Addabbo will be a Senator who supports workers with living wages and that is why we need him in Albany," said Laura Tapia, an organizer with the RWDSU.
In June, Albany passed ICIP reform, which changed the name of the program to the Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP). The reforms merely reduced the amount of time commercial properties would be eligible for subsidies from twelve to ten years. Unlike the New York City IDA, which includes a “claw back” provision requiring companies to pay back a portion of the subsidy if they fail to create sufficient new jobs, the reforms did nothing to address the lack of accountability inherent to the program. Nor did they add any job quality requirements.
“If New York City IDA has a claw back provision in their corporate retention deals, why shouldn’t we expect the same out of ICIP, which last year cost tax-payers 512 million? Albany is doing the absolute minimum to protect our tax dollars and working families,” added Addabbo.
