| Welcome Sisters and
Brothers,
Since the beginning
of the year, we have held monthly meetings of the Contract
Committee to discuss and report on the progress of hotel
negotiations across the Union. As members of the Contract Committee,
your role has been to go back to your hotels and bring the news of
growing strength and unity to your co-workers. As I travel around
the hotels, I know you have been spreading the word. More and more
hotel workers are following bargaining, and preparing to do whatever
it takes to win.
In January, we
made a commitment to achieve a common expiration date for as many of
the twenty-one hotel contracts expiring in the next six months. So
far the Fairmonts, Sheratons and Hiltons have already agreed. We're
winning!
In February,
leaders of twenty hotels were up at the Delta East to head off the
threat of a lock-out. That show of strength and unity halted the
company in their tracks.
In March, we
went to the Sheraton Gateway and joined airport hotel workers to
fight together for raising the standards for hotel workers in all
parts of the Union. We heard that solidarity works - Sheraton Centre
workers helped our Sheraton Gateway members win their first
collective agreement. That victory resulted in removing a
housekeeping agency from supplying non-union workers (with low pay
and no benefits) from operating inside our hotels.
Today we're in
downtown Toronto. Bargaining has begun at several hotels, but the
employers are playing "wait and see". They're waiting for
what happens at the Central Hotel Group: the Sheraton Centre, Delta
Chelsea and Toronto Hilton. No employer is moving until they see
what we are able to achieve there.
But we're not watching
from the sidelines. The members at every HERE Local 75 hotel are preparing
to win. We have our Big Three plus One (Sheraton Centre, Delta
Chelsea, Toronto Hilton plus the Royal York).
And we have our WE TOO
hotels (Delta East, Colony, Metropolitan, Marriott Yorkville,
Courtyard by Marriott, Days Airport, Delta Airport, International
Plaza, Days Inn, King Edward, Travelodge Airport, Royal Connaught,
Holiday Inn... and many more).
The Big Three plus
One are leading the fight. The WE TOO hotels are backing them up.
Today we'll hear from:
Rank-and-file leaders from the Big 3 + 1
Rank-and-file leaders from the WE TOO hotels
Solidarity message from the International Union President, John
Wilhelm.
We'll remind ourselves
what we're fighting for, and we'll discuss how we're going to win.
And then today, and
tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and every day until we all
win, we will talk with our fellow members and lead our co-workers to
do whatever it takes to win.
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