## Hotel Workers Stage Surprise Strike in Montreal
More than 1,000 hotel workers staged a surprise strike in Montreal on Saturday, just two days after a national strike that mobilized hundreds of employees.
“The employer must face the facts: the only way to avoid a strike and achieve a quick solution to the labor dispute is to enter into negotiations. Hotel workers are determined to respect them,” Michel Valiquette, head of the hotel sector and treasurer of the Confederation of Commerce (FC-CSN), announced in a press release on Saturday.
In total, 600 employees at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, 350 at the Marriott Chateau Champlain, and around a hundred at the Hyatt Place Montreal-Downtown hotel took part in this strike, according to the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (SCN).
This marks the third day of the strike for the Queen Elizabeth Hotel since Thursday.
“If the managers of these three hotels have not yet measured the mobilization of the employees, they have no other choice but to start understanding! Today, 1,000 workers are on strike. That’s without counting the support of the 330,000 members of the CSN!” Chantal Ide, vice-president of the Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM-CSN), announced.
The employees began a national strike on August 8, during the peak tourist season, citing their disappointment with the slow pace of negotiations with their employer.