MONTREAL — Bosses at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, a major hotel here, locked out its 600 unionized workers without warning Nov. 20. The workers, members of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), had voted by over 90% to reject the employer’s latest contract offer the day before.
Some 30 strikers were walking the picket line in front of the main entrance to Quebec’s biggest hotel when Militant worker-correspondents brought their solidarity Dec. 4. The area was festooned with CSN flags, and several of the workers were busy plastering “lockout” stickers on the hotel’s windows. A striker disc jockey played loud rhythmic music through portable speakers to help the pickets keep warm.
Workers reported scab labor cleaned the windows last night, but they simply stickered the windows again. One sign in French that was stuck to a window said, “Shame on the employer. Workers on the outside. Scabs on the inside.”
Union negotiators and the company have agreed on a wage package, 10% the first year and 21% overall in a four-year contract. But the main issues are outstanding — the bosses’ insistence on using nonunion agency workers to fill in for unionized staff and the abusive workload housekeepers face. Workers demand the number of rooms per shift be capped at 11. The bosses want 13 rooms during the high season and 14 the rest of the year.
The union says that housekeepers have been overworked since the hotel’s multimillion-dollar renovation in 2017. “There have been work accidents and injuries,” Alexandre Laviolette, CSN commerce federation president, told the Montreal Gazette.
The union says the company is violating Quebec law by using scab labor, including managers doing union work, outside agency workers and other nonunion labor.
The 17 other CSN-organized hotels in Quebec have reached new contracts with the union covering 4,000 workers.
Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel is owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge, the global real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, one of the largest investment fund managers in North America.
Join the picket line 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week. Send solidarity donations to: CSN, 1601, avenue De Lorimier, Montreal H2K 4M5.