I had a thought this morning about how the hotels use the Unions as the boogie man. While the hotel doubtlessly has a contract with the trade unions, nowhere in those agreements does it say anything about what the hotel is to charge their customer for union labor. The contract between the hotel and the unions only stipulate how the labors are to be paid.

What the agreements also specify is the type of work labor is to perform and under what conditions.What constitutes overtime, meal penalties, non-union contractors rules -- these are the articles in a union contract. However, nothing says the hotel has to charge you anything.

The hotels are the one responsible to fulfill their agreements with the union. At no time are we obligated to pay the unions or their labor. Therefore, the hotels could easily provide complimentary union labor.

When you consider the spread between the union agreement wages and the prices charged to their clients, the hotels have a great deal of flexibility. The hotel isn't obligated to charge you anything.

The hotel's rub is in their profit motive, not in the financial management of the unions. It is important to remember that the unions are not the boogie man, they are the strawman the hotels hold up to you and never want to you deal with directly.

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