CASE STUDY
Background
Main Street Wisdom was brought in to coordinate advocacy against a controversial bill that would have required all new and existing hotels be subject to a license and that all employees—including subcontracted ones—be subject to a collective bargaining agreement. The bill as a whole would have jeopardized the industry, cost jobs, and increased the cost of doing business in NYC.
Challenges
The bill had widespread implications and ramifications across the hospitality and real estate industries, and as such, there were many different stakeholders involved, each of whom was trying to “own the issue.” Our role required coordination across multiple industries, and 28–35 consultants representing numerous clients for lobbying, communications, and public affairs purposes. The bill was set to be voted on within three weeks of being presented, and the goal was to come out swinging against the City Council and the main labor union backing the bill.
Solutions
To ensure an aligned public affairs approach, we worked with leadership across various divisions, and with key impacted members to understand their policy priorities and requests, and how that compared to other involved industries. We then set up steering calls three-times a week to coordinate across various stakeholders and ensure we were coordinated in meeting deliverables for a communications plan, government relations strategy, and outreach for a potential rally. As various industries called for advice, we would recommend individual outreach strategies to ensure targeted grassroots mobilization of their stakeholders. For The Alliance, we suggested how best to mobilize their members and helped analyze what the potential impacts to their industry could be.
Results
The bill’s passage was beat back by 4 months
We secured a carve out for the hospitality industry and ensured the final bill delivered on the expectations of the real estate industry