Empress Hotel workers ratify new deal

Contract addresses workload, creates women’s advocate

Unionized employees at the Fairmont Empress Hotel ratified a new contract with the company after threatening to strike.

About 500 members of Unifor Local 4276 voted 92 per cent in favour of a 31⁄2-year contract with the Empress.

The members work in housekeeping, culinary, grounds keeping, serving, guest relations, maintenance and engineering.

On Aug. 29, the union issued a 72-hour strike notice to the company. Two days later, it announced that a deal had been negotiated.

Union spokesman Stu Shields said the members were pleased with the contract, namely the company’s agreement to address concerns about working conditions related to the hotel’s recent renovations.

As an example, he cited the addition of more mirrors and glass surfaces — which take longer to clean and have resulted in overtime hours for staff.

Shields said they were able to negotiate a system to measure these increased workloads and the time allotted for them as well as set limits on overtime.

He said the union also negotiated a women’s advocate position. It will send one member to training for peer-support services.

“We made it a priority in our union to that equity-seeking groups [minorities] have the resources to overcome any barriers,” Shields said.

Empress spokeswoman Kerry Duff said the company is “pleased that a resolution has been reached and [is] excited to move forward.”

“The Fairmont Empress continues to be committed to our guest and colleague experience,” Duff said.

Empress employees have only gone on strike once in the hotel’s more than 100-year history.

In 1999, 400 union staff went on strike for 11 days over wage disputes.