The DoubleTree by Hilton at Complexe Desjardins must immediately stop using scab services, the Administrative Labor Court ordered on Friday. The employer must also stop using the employees of the Groupe Sécurité CLB company for the duration of the strike.
While the 300 union members of DoubleTree by Hilton at Complexe Desjardins have been on an indefinite general strike since September 5, the employer has used the services of at least 11 strikebreakers to do their work, in addition to hiring officers. security group CL B., indicates the decision of the Tribunal.
“I am always surprised to see to what extent employers have budgets to hire security, but that they do not have to improve our working conditions”, said over the phone the president of the Federation of Commerce (FC -CSN), Alexandre Laviolette.
Judge Guy Blanchet declared that the employer had violated section 109.1 of the Labor Code, which prohibits the use of scabs. The 11 executives who tried to continue to operate the 595-room hotel, located in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles, are named in the Tribunal document.
Closed until January
The establishment closed its doors temporarily on September 30, when it was summoned for the first time to the Administrative Labor Tribunal following an incriminating investigation into the use of scabs.
The DoubleTree by Hilton at Complexe Desjardins does not plan to reopen its doors until January, after the holiday season.
So far, 12 out of 24 hotels have entered into an agreement with their unionized employees. Small hotels paid first, observes the union.
The DoubleTree by Hilton at Complexe Desjardins is owned by Hotellus Montreal Services inc., Whose address is in Vancouver, the majority shareholder in the Netherlands (Euro Lifim Holding BV) and the directors in Sweden.
From the outset, the DoubleTree proposed several setbacks and remains stuck on its proposals.
We do not want to argue in court about scabs, but rather to conclude a collective agreement at the level of what was negotiated in the other hotels of this coordinated negotiation. There is no reason why the union members at the DoubleTree hotel should have working conditions different from those obtained in other hotels.
Alexandre Laviolette, President of the FC-CSN
A resumption of talks is scheduled for November 24 in the presence of a conciliator.
The DoubleTree by Hilton is using the pandemic to roll back working conditions, says the union, conditions that today allow a real career in the hotel industry.
The president of the FC-CSN points out that the borders are now open, that the Americans can return to Montreal, that people are starting to travel again and that it will be possible to feast at the hotel for the holiday season with the vaccination passport . Union members are eager to participate in this recovery, but not at any cost, he concludes.