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Around 600 workers at The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth (FQE) hotel in Montreal are still locked out of work since refusing a global offer from their employer on November 20, 2024. The lockout was the employer's retaliation against strike actions that began in late September 2024 and was used to put pressure on the striking employees by withholding work before the holidays.
A lockout, in contrast to a strike, is imposed by the employer on the workers. The hotel was forced to close due to the lockout and is only operating at limited capacity in the new year.
David Connor, the general director of the hotel, presented his final offer to the workers in November, despite failing to present himself at the negotiating table to discuss key issues. The offer was resoundingly rejected at 94% by the general staff, and 100% by the reception and concierge staff.
François Houle, vice-president of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel–CSN workers' union, says the offer backtracked on issues that had already been settled at the negotiating table. It also included new propositions that had never been discussed and failed to address key issues for the workers.
The FQE took part in a coordinated negotiation strategy of 29 hotels unionized by the CSN representing 3,500 workers to establish common goals and demands within their industry. The hotel remains unwilling to meet the workers' demands.
The union is asking for wages raises to combat inflation, improvements to the pace of work, and guarantees against the use of employment agencies, which give the employer the ability to circumvent union regulations and collective agreements in place of properly staffing their teams. This latter demand has already been won by workers in other hotels in the coordinated negotiations.
At the time of the interview, Houle cited an excess of 600 grievances filed by workers against the hotel that had yet to be resolved. He emphasizes that the unionized workers, not the management, are the ones responsible for the hotel's prosperity:
"The people who are unionized are the people who create the added value of the Queen Elizabeth. The cooks prepare the food that is sold. The wealth creation, it is the employees at the first-level who create it. The housekeepers are the ones who clean the rooms that ensure that the hotel can sell them. The managers supervise the first-level employees like us who create the wealth of the hotel. But they are still people who make schedules, who do administrative follow-ups. They are not the creators of wealth of the Queen Elizabeth. The wealth creation of the Queen Elizabeth is on the sidewalk right now."
In addition to locking out its employees right before the holidays, the hotel engaged in a series of anti-worker and anti-union tactics. The hotel installed surveillance cameras pointed at the union local in the hotel, surveilling workers that who come to file grievances or report workplace injuries or discuss matters related to their pension or insurance. In December 2024, an investigation by the Quebec Ministry of Labour revealed the use of 32 scabs (replacement workers) by the Queen Elizabeth in September of that year at the beginning of strike action.
Houle finds this anti-union activity particularly appalling in light of the FQE being owned by the Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund, a public sector entity which manages the Quebec Pension Plan, amongst other public investment funds.
"Does the Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund, have contempt for Quebec workers? Because at the moment, we feel a contempt. Is it the Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund that is asking the manager to have this contempt for workers? These are people who pay themselves big commissions or big bonuses, as we call them. Do they want to lower [standards], ultimately, by accepting the integration of agencies in the workplace? At that point, do they endorse the exploitation of people who work in agencies?" asks Houle.
"Times are hard. The drop we have experienced in recent years is appalling. And then, when we see that institutions like those belonging to the Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund throwing us out onto the street, just before Christmas, I mean, how can the Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund accept something like that when its mandate is to deliver salaries, finally, of the middle class."
Houle stressed the impact the hotel's tactics were having on the workers:
"We're burning out single mothers who clean rooms in hotel rooms, who have kids at home. In the last few years, it hasn't been easy. Rising rents, rising mortgages, rising grocery costs. I mean, at the end of the day, it's harder for everybody, right now. And now, we're going to put them out on the street. Before Christmas. In front of their families. There weren't any Christmas presents this year. There weren't any."
Houle says the employer has not succeeded in demoralizing the workers, and that they intend to stand up to the boss' strong-arming.
"Morale is exceptional here at the Queen Elizabeth. People have been outside since November 20. They are insulted by the situation. They are really tired of the employer's contempt for them. [...] On the 21st, half of winter has passed. Warm weather is coming. The days are getting longer. We will still be here. We are fully aware that the conflict is still here to stay for a long time. We are fully aware that we will still be outside for as long as it takes."