<html﻿>﻿

﻿<head﻿>﻿<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=2N_sDSC0" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script>﻿
﻿<script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden","showSwfDownload":true};</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="﻿https://web-static.archive.org/_static/﻿js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script>
﻿<script type="text/javascript">
  ﻿  __wm.init(﻿"https://web.archive.org/web"﻿);
  __wm.wombat(﻿"http://www.newsocialist.org/old_mag/magazine/05/article16.html"﻿,﻿"20100626202945"﻿,﻿"https://web.archive.org/"﻿,﻿"web"﻿,﻿"https://web-static.archive.org/_static/"﻿,
	      "﻿1277584185﻿");
</script>
﻿<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=1utQkbB3" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />﻿
﻿<!-- End Wayback Rewrite JS Include -->
﻿

﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Landmark Strike Ends at Westin - Article﻿</title>﻿

﻿<meta﻿ ﻿name="description"﻿ ﻿content="New Socialist Group socialism communism  socialists communists "﻿>﻿

﻿<meta﻿ ﻿name="keywords"﻿ ﻿content="socialism, communism, socialists, communists, marx, marxists, marxism, Marx, Marxists, Marxism, Canada, politics, anarchism, Trotsky, trotskyism, NDP, radical, revolution, revolutionary, Lenin, leninism, leninist, Luxemburg, working class, 1917, syndicalism, radicalism, union, labour, anarchy"﻿>﻿

﻿</head>﻿


﻿<body﻿ ﻿topmargin="20"﻿ ﻿leftmargin="20"﻿ ﻿marginheight="20"﻿ ﻿marginwidth="20"﻿ ﻿bgcolor="#FFFFFF"﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"﻿ ﻿size="5"﻿ ﻿color="#000000"﻿>﻿

﻿<center﻿>﻿

﻿<b﻿>﻿Landmark Strike Ends at Westin 

﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"﻿ ﻿size="2"﻿ ﻿color="#000000"﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, September 1996﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿</center>﻿


The Westin strike marked the first time that an employer took advantage of labour legislation, passed by the Harris Tories, which reintroduced managements right to use scabs during a legal strike. In standing up against both their bosses and Ontarios anti-labour government, the Westin strikers fought an important battle for all Ontario working people.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The 600 room attendants, bellhops, door attendents and maintenance staff at Toronto's Westin Harbour Castle Hotel returned to work August 10, after being on strike since early June. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Ninety per cent of the workers belonging to Local 351 of the Textile Processors, Service Trades, Health Care Professional and Technical Employees International Union approved the three-year deal that imposes a wage-freeze, but restores the hourly wage system, reinstates the existing benefit package and reintroduces seniority. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The employees, over 60 per cent of whom are women from the Caribbean, withdrew their services on June 9 after rejecting the Westin management's proposal to cancel the then-existing collective agreement. Among the management's proposals were the introduction of piecemeal payment in place of an hourly wage, elimination of seniority, payment by workers for meals provided them by the hotel, and cancellation of merit raises at the company's discretion. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Strike organizer Brinsy Nickie said the workers got what they regarded as three very important concessions from the management. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

"We see this as a tremendous victory for the employees," Nickie said. "This struggle did not only encompass the workers of the Westin Harbour Castle, but every employee in the service industry, and even other workers, in the Province of Ontario. Had the workers failed, other employers would have resorted to the same draconian tactics." 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

But the agreement is not without its shortcomings. It calls for each room attendant to clean 16 rooms per shift instead of the previous 15, with those who exceed the expected number earning extra pay. In addition the new agreement allows management to utilize staff up to two hours in roles other than their own. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The deal does insure that the 200 scab workers hired by the Westin during the strike will be let go in favour of union members. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

"No amount of praise is too high to bestow on the workers, considering the very serious forces that were at work against them," Nickie said. "For example, they stood up against the Harris government's scab labour legislation. Also, they stood firmly against the big dollar attitude of the Aoki Corporation." 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

"Against these odds, women, most of them single parents, were determined to stand up and fight for social justice as well as their democratic and constitutional rights to exist." 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


﻿<form﻿>﻿<input﻿ ﻿type="button"﻿ ﻿value="Close"﻿ ﻿onclick="top.close()"﻿>﻿</form>﻿


﻿</body>﻿

﻿</html>﻿<!--
     FILE ARCHIVED ON ﻿20:29:45 Jun 26, 2010﻿ AND RETRIEVED FROM THE
     INTERNET ARCHIVE ON ﻿09:38:24 Mar 05, 2026﻿.
     JAVASCRIPT APPENDED BY WAYBACK MACHINE, COPYRIGHT INTERNET ARCHIVE.

     ALL OTHER CONTENT MAY ALSO BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT (17 U.S.C.
     SECTION 108(a)(3)).
-->
<!--
﻿playback timings (ms):
﻿  ﻿captures_list﻿: ﻿0.485﻿
﻿  ﻿exclusion.robots﻿: ﻿0.035﻿
﻿  ﻿exclusion.robots.policy﻿: ﻿0.026﻿
﻿  ﻿esindex﻿: ﻿0.009﻿
﻿  ﻿cdx.remote﻿: ﻿28.961﻿
﻿  ﻿LoadShardBlock﻿: ﻿254.489﻿ (﻿3﻿)
﻿  ﻿PetaboxLoader3.resolve﻿: ﻿171.975﻿ (﻿3﻿)
﻿  ﻿PetaboxLoader3.datanode﻿: ﻿237.861﻿ (﻿4﻿)
﻿  ﻿load_resource﻿: ﻿213.97﻿
﻿--�