This photograph from the cover of a 1972 pamphlet shows a demonstration and picket line in 1940 that ended the refusal of the Savoy Plaza Hotel, (across from the Plaza Hotel at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue) to sign the first contract. The Savoy Plaza was razed many years later to make way for the General Motors Building. Note the hats and coats on the demonstrators, which are much more formal than the clothes of today’s working people. The police officers, although lined up, do not appear confrontational.

The pamphlet was published by the Hotel and Motel Trades Council of New York on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of its first labor agreement covering New York City’s hotel workers.

Image courtesy of HERE, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union.

See the LaborArts exhibit Labor Pains:  The Birth of a Contract for related images.