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Hotel Strikes

Montreal Hotel Strike Heats Up as Fairmont's QE Workers Strike

August 8, 2008 at 10:30 AM | 0 Comments

The hotel strike in Montreal shows no sign of slowing down. We got a tip yesterday from a reader who said that attendees for the upcoming UFCW convention on August 17th--that's the United Food and Commercial Workers union--have ditched their planned accommodations at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel and are instead shacking up at the Loews.

The reason why? As you can guess, Fairmont's workers have just walked off the job. From the Montreal Gazette:

Workers at the largest hotel in Quebec, Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel, have joined forces with other locked out or striking hotel employees in a labour conflict that now affects four major Montreal-area hotels.

The Queen Elizabeth workers walked off the job Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in a temporary strike that can last a maximum of 72 hours.

Yikes. Considering that the QE is Quebec's largest hotel, this cannot bode well. Although the 72 hours are almost up, guests headed there this weekend should probably expect a little drama. The Hyatt Regency is also affected as is the Hôtel des Gouverneurs Place Dupuis and the Holiday Inn in Longueuil.