Employees at 5 Montreal hotels plan strike

Operations at five hotels in the Montreal area could be affected by a strike planned for September 9.

The union representing employees at three downtown hotels — the Marriot Château Champlain, the Hôtel Gouverneur at Place Dupuis and the Bonaventure Hotel — as well as the Quality Suites in Pointe-Claire and the Laval Hilton said its members voted this week for a 72-hour strike mandate.

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The move comes after employees at four hotels in Quebec City — the Hilton, Delta, Hotel Pur and Hotel Classique — adopted a similar mandate and employees at the Quality Hotel in Sherbrooke voted in favour of an unlimited strike.

Employees at other hotels are also expected to vote on a strike mandate in the coming days.

The employees' union, the CSN, said the workers want more vacation, a four-year collective agreement and better employment protection.

The strikes come at the end of a summer that's been one of the best for Quebec's tourism industry in recent years.

According to numbers from Statistics Canada, foreign travel into Quebec is on an upswing since dropping to a low point in 2009, especially from the U.S.

This resurgence coincides with an increasingly cheap Canadian dollar.