Locked out unionized workers at Queen Elizabeth Hotel rally after management announce closure over holidays

As more than 600 unionized employees of Montreal’s Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel are locked out by their employer amid a labour dispute, hotel management announced they would be closing for the holidays starting Dec. 21.

The move comes after the 950-room hotel locked out its unionized workers last month after they rejected a contract proposal partly due to a disagreement over the use of staffing agencies.

“I haven’t heard of anything like it,” says Andrew Ager from Ottawa.

“The guests look for a high level of service,” says David Connor, the general manager of Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel. “They look for restaurants and bars and such to be able to have entertainment and we’re just not able to offer that in this labour dispute.

“So we thought it’s better to close the hotel, advise our guests, help them find other hotels. We’ve been calling each one individually.”

The unionized employees have been locked out since Nov. 20 and on Friday we’re demonstrating outside the CDPQ’s office which owns the hotel.

“We have customers that have been coming and celebrating Christmas for like 10-15 years, families and so on,” says François Houle, vice-president of the CSN union representing workers at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel. “What are they going to do this year? They have to find a ‘plan B’ for sure.”

Houle says workers are concerned about having business go elsewhere.

“This is actually a hotel where workers like me, we’ve been working days and days and days to build up the reputation of this building. And once you go elsewhere, are they going to come back to our hotel?”

Connor says, “That we close on Dec. 21 has zero bearing on the staff, the union members because we’re already in a lockout.”

The union claims the hotel is using scabs, but the hotel says they didn’t bring in any new employees and are following the law.

One of the employees’ sticking points is the use of staffing agencies.

“They pretend actually that it’s to help us but it doesn’t help,” says Houle. “What would help us is actually the hotel would hire the real staff.

Connor says the hotel is committed to reducing its reliance on agencies. “Frankly, I’m stunned that we have not been able to find [an] agreement.”

The employer’s latest offer rejected by union members included a salary increase of 21 per cent over four years.

“It is the same offer that 20 other hotels under this union have accepted this year. So what comes next? Hopefully, that they will come back to the table and we’ll be able to talk,” Connor says.

“They never invited us to come back to the negotiation table, they don’t even try to understand actually what’s blocking,” says Houle.

It’s not yet known when the hotel will reopen after the holidays.

“At least it’s open right now and I hope they can solve all their problems before too long,” Ager says.