Workers employed by the luxurious Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Toronto, Canada have been engaged in a struggle against poor working conditions, contract violations and victimization. These workers have taken the struggle into their own hands with the support of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and others.
During the winter a mass delegation of rank and file hotels workers walked to Hotel Employees , Restaurant Employees (H.E.R.E.) Local 75 office to deliver a letter and demand that the President, Union Staff and the Elected Representatives follow their collective agreement thoroughly due to the systematic violation of basic workers rights by their employer,Metropolitan Hotel. Since then the workers have continued their self-organized struggle.
Their self-organized struggle continues, both on the job and in the community.
Below we publish parts of a statement issued by the Workers Committee.
This is a message from the Metropolitan Hotel Workers Committee. Our Committee is made up of current and former workers who have joined together to demand respect, dignity and justice from hotel management and the Union that represents us. There have been a lot of lies spread about our Committee and we want to take the opportunity to clear the record.
A union is only as strong as its members. A strong union is responsible to those members and not management. We want our Union to represent us in an open, accountable and democratic way. We want an end to management and union collaboration against workers. We want full disclosure of income from union officials. We want the union to clear up the grievance backlog and to stop refusing to file grievances. We want workers to be provided with copies of the collective agreement along with work schedules and seniority lists …
We want respect for our rights as workers
We want an end to management harassment. We want basic human rights respected in the workplace. Proper meal and rest breaks must be provided. No worker should be victimized for speaking his or her own language to other workers. We want an end to false allegations by managers against workers as a way of intimidating them or driving them from their jobs.
THE METROPOLITAN HOTEL WORKERS COMMITTEE (416) 969-0672 or visit the MHWC website at http://metropolitanhotelsworkers.org/