Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel union approves agreement after 6-month lockout
About 600 employees voted 91% in favour of a settlement
Workers at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel in downtown Montreal have overwhelmingly approved a new collective agreement, ending a lockout that lasted nearly six months.
Roughly 600 employees voted 91 per cent in favour of a settlement proposed by a conciliator.
The dispute limited service at the 950-room luxury hotel, which closed for the holiday season on Dec. 21.
The deal includes a 21 per cent wage increase over four years, higher employer contributions to group insurance, and improvements to training, vacation time and tipping policies, according to a news release issued by the Fédération du commerce (FC–CSN).
The agreement also includes new limits on the use of staffing agencies and measures to reduce workloads — including a cap of 12 rooms per day for room attendants.
Six other hotels involved in the same round of co-ordinated bargaining have yet to reach agreements.
They include the Hôtel Concorde and Hôtel Clarendon in Quebec City, the Holiday Inn Sinomonde and Hilton Garden Inn in Montreal, the Quality Inn in Dorval and the Château Roberval in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
The CSN's 11th round of co-ordinated hotel bargaining includes more than 3,500 workers at 29 hotels across several regions of Quebec.