6-month lockout ends at Montreal’s storied Queen Elizabeth hotel

Unionized employees at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel have agreed to a new contract, putting an end to a six-month lockout at the storied Montreal landmark.

A news release by the hotel says workers voted 91 per cent in favour of a new deal on Monday, after they were locked out by management on Nov. 20.

The 950-room luxury hotel is the largest in Quebec and is known as the location for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s recording of “Give Peace a Chance” during their 1969 bed-in.

The union — Fédération du commerce — says the deal includes a 21 per cent salary increase over four years for 600 workers, and more rules around the use of staffing agencies.

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Hotel management says it will gradually restart operations this month, with full service to resume on May 26.

The union says a half-dozen other hotels in Quebec City, Montreal and Saguenay Lac-St-Jean, involved in the same co-ordinated bargaining, have yet to reach agreements.