Vol. 72/No. 31      August 4, 2008

Workers from as many as 40 hotels throughout Quebec are part of this fight, which also includes demands for salary increases and an end to hotel contracts with agencies where workers are paid less and have no union protection. There have been ongoing work stoppages and rallies to back their demands. Workers at the Queen Elizabeth hotel in downtown Montreal stopped work one Friday to host a rally in the lobby that gathered 800 workers from hotels in the area.

Lise Ouellet, a chef at the Hyatt Regency, told the Militant that tensions were high, so when management “intimidated the young women who clean the rooms, the union charged harassment and coworkers were happy to walk out in support.” Myriam Romero, a member of the negotiating committee, was part of the rally at the Queen Elizabeth hotel. “They [management] didn’t expect it. They didn’t see it coming and it was very good!” she told the Militant.

Workers at several of the major hotels in Toronto are fighting for new contracts and are waging short strikes around similar demands.

—Annette Kouri

Poultry workers in Ohio
walk out over low wages
Poultry workers at Case Farms in Winesburg, Ohio, struck the plant July 18 after rejecting a company offer of a measly 15-cent raise. The vote was 294-12.

The workers average about $8.10 an hour, according to their union, Local 880 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Chicken plants nearby pay $2 to $3 more an hour.

In contract negotiations the union was demanding raises of up to $2.50 an hour. Case Farms fired two of the union negotiators, which helped precipitate the strike.

The workers voted to be represented by the UFCW in May 2007.

—Cindy Jaquith  
 
 
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