LABOUR

Days Inn strike

by Carolyn Egan

At midnight on June 12, workers at the Days Inn in Toronto walked off the job.

Management was demanding that wages be rolled back to $12 an hour, and that all benefits and the pension plan be scrapped. The wages ranged from $13 to almost $20 per hour depending on the classification.

Earlier in the day, workers—members of the United Steelworkers—met at the hotel. After hearing the company’s final offer, they started an angry discussion.

A vote was taken and the outcome was 98 per cent for a strike.

They spent the day planning the work stoppage, appointing picket captains, setting up strike schedules and making plans to call groups that had booked events.

Everyone was involved in planning. Picket lines went up and the strikers were boisterous and militant.

Solidarity

The hotel is located in a working class neighbourhood on a main street. The honking from supporters seemed never ending.

Other unions came by to walk the line including the Amalgamated Transit Workers, the Elementary School Teachers and others.

BBQs were happening and the workers’ confidence increased as days went by.

The family that owned the hotel was shocked by the support. What began as arrogant cockiness by the owner slowly began to change as he saw customers booking out and organizations canceling planned events.

In the end, all the wages were reinstated with slight gains in gratuities. The benefits were taken over by the Steelworker Benefit Plan but the union agreed to a one-year pension suspension.

They could have had a complete victory if they had stayed out a bit longer because the workers had the momentum. But the committee brought back a tentative agreement after almost a week and the workers accepted it by 75 per cent. They felt that they had beaten the boss because of the huge concessions that were originally demanded.

This was their first time on strike, and after the vote many felt they could have pushed further, which is an important lesson learned.