Over 125 hospitality workers join Local 102

Over 125 hotel employees in southern Ontario are the newest hospitality workers to join the growing ranks of UFCW Canada Local 102.

The new Local 102 members work for the Days Inn in Guelph and at several Monte Carlo Inn locations throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

Based in Niagara Falls, Local 102 has been very active over the past three years creating an organizing culture that is making a big difference for hospitality workers in Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe.

“The Monte Carlo campaign started when a group of workers at the hotel chain’s Vaughan location came to us for help about a year ago,” says Local 102 President Dominic Musitano. “In the beginning we got a lot of push back from the employer but our activists ran simultaneous campaigns throughout the chain, and within a few months we not only achieved a good contract for the Vaughan employees, but we also bargained for growth and secured the collective bargaining rights for Monte Carlo workers at six additional locations.”

When asked about Local 102’s organizing success, Brother Musitano is quick to praise his small but feisty organizing team and to make special mention of the local’s excellent relationship with other hospitality-based local unions, like UFCW Canada Local 206.

“We support each other because we’re working toward the same goal of creating higher standards and more stability for hospitality industry workers,” says the Local 102 president.  “The hotel and food services industries have really grown in the Niagara region and we need to make sure that those workers know that Local 102 is on their side and that we’re here to fight for them and their rights.”

In fact, the hospitality industry is growing at a rapid pace all across the country, and the total number of Canadians working in the hotel and food services sector is expected to surpass 1.4 million by 2025.

“More and more Canadians are earning their livings in the hospitality industry and as Canada’s largest private-sector union we need to be leading the way in making sure that the jobs of the future are good jobs,” says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. “Building density in an industry that is largely non-unionized is a huge challenge, but that is the only way we’ll be able to create an employment source that provides us with what we need to live, raise our families and retire with dignity.”

To find out more about Local 102, visit their new website at www.ufcw102.com.