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[[File:AHLA_logo_375x208.png|200px|thumb|right]]The '''American Hotel & Lodging National Restaurant Association(NRA)''' (AHLA) is a U.S.-based trade group that represents association for the lodging approximately $709 billion restaurant industry, which includes chain and independent hotels, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and companies that manage and supply the lodging industry. AHLA has become a powerful force lobbying against higher wages and greater health care coverage for according to its workersown reports, and in 2014 filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles law to raise the wage for hotel workers to $15.37.<ref name="la lawsuit">David Zahniser and Emily Alpert ReyesNational Restaurant Association, "[http://www.latimesrestaurant.comorg/localNews-Research/lanowNews/laRestaurant-meIndustry-lnForecast-hotelPositive-wageoutlook-lawsuit-20141215-story.html Industry groups sue over L.A.'s minimum wage for hotel workersPositive outlook for 2015]," ''Lorganizational press release, January 27, 2015.</ref><ref>National Restaurant Association, "[http://www.Arestaurant. Times''org/News-Research/Research/Facts-at-a-Glance Facts at a Glance], December 16" organizational website, 2014. Accessed accessed March 1225, 2015.</ref>and had a total annual revenue of approximately $71 million in 2013.<ref name="extreme wages2013 990">Mary Bottari and Jonas PerssonNational Restaurant Association, "[http://www.prwatchguidestar.org/newsFinDocuments/20152013/01361/12708525/hotel2013-lobby361525480-sues0b017ac1-la-coordinated-campaign-against-family-supporting-jobs-and- Hotel Lobby Sues Los Angeles to Block “Extreme” Wages9O.pdf 2013 IRS Form 990]," Center for Media and Democracyorganizational annual IRS filing, ''PR Watch''November 14, January 12, 2015. Accessed March 12, 20152014.</ref> AHLA's board includes members from The NRA has been a major hotel force in keeping the federal tipped minimum wage at $2.13 for restaurant workers for 20 years. It and resort its member companies, including Omni, IHG, [[Wyndham International]], [[Marriott]], [[Hilton]], [[Hyatt]], Carlson, represent a lobbying powerhouse working against state minimum wage increases and otherspaid sick leave for workers.
O'Neill's report[[Image:Germ-sick_leave_protest200px.jpg|200|right]]In recent years, issued in June 2014the NRA has fought hard against new laws and regulations on paid sick days , argued, "Extreme minimum wage rates which would not only decrease employment, but also decrease opportunities allow workers to stay at home when sick without risking their paycheck or their job. The NRA has called paid sick days fights a “hot button issue for upward mobility in the hospitality restaurant industry."” <ref name="extreme wage report">John W. O'NeillPaul Frumkin, "[http://www.ahlagoogle.com/uploadedFiles/WageSurveyJune2014url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nrn.pdf Extreme Wage Initiatives com%2Farticle%2Fnyc-lawmakers-consider-paid-sick-leave&sa=D&sntz=1& the Hotel Industry: Impact on Local Communities and the Nationusg=AFQjCNEUPADpGa1vQcvZBNFj_DWMhYB-9Q NYC Lawmakers Consider Paid Sick Leave]," American Hotel & Lodging Association report, June 2014.</ref> O'Neill completed a program at the AHLA Educational Institute in 1998 making him an AHLA "Certified Hospitality Educator" and has worked in upper management for Marriott Corporation and Holiday Inn International and as a consultant for the industry with Laventhol & Horwath and Coopers & Lybrand. O'Neill regularly writes for industry magazines like ''Lodging Hospitality'' and ''Hotel Nation’s Restaurant News Now''.<ref>John W. O'Neill, [http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/directory/documents/oneill-john-fid-84-vitae.pdf Curriculum Vitae], accessed February 5September 15, 20152009.</ref>
National Restaurant Association
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<h3>[[American Hotel & Lodging National Restaurant Association]]</h3> '''Excerpt from a longer SourceWatch article on the American Hotel & Lodging National Restaurant Association''':
====Spinning Minimum Wage Increases as "Extreme Wages"==Opposition to Paid Sick Days==Despite its claims that most industry workers are already paid above minimum wage, AHLA actively campaigns against raising it, referring to current minimum wage campaigns as "extreme wage initiatives." The term appears to have been coined by the hotel industry, as the Center for Media and Democracy reported.<ref name="extreme wages"/> In an early instance, the AHLA announced in January 2014 that it would “beat back the growing emergence of extreme minimum and living wage initiatives” nationwide.<ref>Kevin Bogardus, "[http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/196509-hotels-vow-to-fight-back-against-extreme-minimum-wage Hotel industry vows to fight back against ‘extreme’ minimum wage bills]," ''The Hill'', January 27, 2014. Accessed March 19, 2015.</ref> As part of this strategy, AHLA also commissioned John W. O’Neill with the School of Hospitality Management at Penn State to conduct a “study” on the effects of “extreme wage initiatives” on the hotel industry. Not only did they fund the research, they also instructed the former hotel executive to use the word “extreme.”<ref name="extreme wages"/>
Forty percent of all workers do not have paid sick days; existing federal law covers only employees working 25 hours or more at businesses with at least 50 workers, applies only to serious and not routine illnesses, and is unpaid. <ref>Esmé E. Deprez, "[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-22/coughing-cooks-stay-home-as-u-s-cities-require-paid-sick-leave.html Coughing Cooks Stay Home as U.S. Cities Require Paid Sick Leave]," ''Bloomberg'', Mar 21, 2013.</ref> Bills to block local governments from allowing workers to earn paid sick days have been introduced in at least 14 different state legislatures across the country; in most cases, the NRA has played a role in pushing the legislation.<ref>National Restaurant Association, [http://www.prwatch.org/files/NRA_Map.pdf State and Local Paid Sick Leave Mandates], document obtained by CMD, accessed February 16, 2015.</ref><ref>National Restaurant Association, "[http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/News/Cities-and-states-debate-paid-sick-leave Cities and States Debate Paid Sick Leave]," Press Release, June 25, 2013.</ref> These bills are designed to preempt local governments or voters from enacting paid sick days ordinances. '''Read the entire SourceWatch page on the [[American Hotel & Lodging National Restaurant Association|American Hotel & Lodging National Restaurant Association here]]'''.
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