Hotel employees walk off the job across Quebec in surprise strike

More than 2,000 unionized hotel employees staged a surprise strike across the province on Friday. 

The strike affected 22 hotels in Montreal, Sherbrooke and Quebec City.

The employees, who are affiliated with the CSN labour federation, held a similar 24-hour walkout on Aug. 8.

The walkout is part of a campaign of rotating surprise strikes to speed up contract talks. Negotiations that began in April between hotel owners and the union have stalled.

The hotel employees want a 36 per cent pay increase over four years and an end to the use of employment agencies, among other demands.

Hotel managers have said that the union is asking for a lot and argued that working conditions in the industry are already good, but they also said they were willing to negotiate.

At a press conference in front of the Hyatt Place Montréal, where workers picketed, David Bergeron-Cyr, the vice-president of the CSN, said it is an opportune moment for workers to strike.

"Right now the hotel industry, they're making a lot of money. So now's the time for the most important parts of the hotel, which are the human beings, the women, the men, to have their fair share of those profits," he said.