Toronto: Hotel Workers Ask for Help from French Embassy as Novotel Boycott Looms in Ontario: Hotel workers in Toronto and Ottawa reach out to French Ambassador for intervention, rally at troubled Novotel North York hotel

Abstract

Workers at three Ontario Novotel hotels (the Novotel Ottawa, the Novotel Mississauga and the Novotel North York) have been engaged in a union organizing drive since 2008. A number of workers have been disciplined and terminated after publicly supporting the decision to join the union, leading to charges at the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) at each of the three properties. On September 27, 2012 the OLRB ruled Accor broke Ontario's labour laws at the Novotel Mississauga. Citing the severity of the company's anti-union campaign in the face of an organizing drive, the OLRB took the unusual step of awarding an "automatic certification" at the property, granting immediate union status to the 100 workers at the hotel. Separate cases relating to the Novotel North York and Novotel Ottawa, where similar management behaviours were reported, are ongoing.