The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel in downtown Montreal, Thursday, July 4, 2024. Employees at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth hotel are on strike for the third straight day in the middle of the busy summer season, but this time they are joined by pickets from two other hotels in the city, the Marriott Château Champlain and the Hyatt Place Montreal.Christine Muschi/The Canadian Press
Employees at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth hotel protested for the third day in a row on Saturday, in the midst of peak summer tourism season. They were joined by pickets from two other hotels in the city to protest the impasse in collective bargaining.
The CSN union, which represents the workers, said there were 1,000 members on the picket line on Saturday, including 600 in front of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, 350 in front of the Marriott Château Champlain and about 100 in front of the Hyatt Place Montreal.
Michel Valiquette, president of the CSN’s hotel sector department, accused hotel owners of delaying negotiations and said the union was trying to bring the owners back to the negotiating table.
Employees of 30 hotels in the Quebec regions of Montreal, Capitale-Nationale, Estrie and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean are demanding a 36 percent wage increase over four years and an end to the use of private employment agencies.
On Thursday, employees of 23 different hotels in the Montreal region, Quebec City and Sherbrooke went on strike for 24 hours.
In an email to the Canadian Press, the Greater Montreal Hotel Association said owners were working on an agreement with workers and accused striking employees of taking tourists hostage.
