Peter Ward, a New York political power broker and one of the most powerful men in the U.S. hotel industry, is retiring, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Brooklyn-born Ward, who runs the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council, started at the union as a teenager and climbed ranks to become a major force in local politics.
“Several years ago one of the major tabloids called Peter the most powerful union leader in NYC,” said David Sherwyn, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. “If you had said to someone 30 years ago that hotel union president would be most powerful, they would say, you’re crazy.”
The union didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The retirement was first reported by the New York Daily News.
Ward, 62, has recently been embroiled in contentious negotiations with New York hotel owners about Covid-19 era safety standards. He’s also long been a thorn in the side of Airbnb Inc.
Opposition researchers working for Airbnb dug into Ward’s background, Bloomberg News reported last year, and leaked documents to the New York Daily News about his four homes and $440,000 annual salary.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council represented roughly 40,000 hotel workers in New York City, northern New Jersey and nearby areas including Westchester and the Albany.
He was previously a member of the three-person New York Wage Commission whose recommendations on an increase in the minimum wage for tipped workers were implemented by the state, according to a biography on the website of the MTA, where he once sat on the board.
“Peter stood up for the working men and women of the hotel industry and fought every day to improve the lives of his members,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. “This news is a blow to the labor movement, but the battle to protect it must continue.”
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