Fairmont Empress management and the union representing about 500 of the hotel’s workers struck an early-morning deal Wednesday.
“It took until almost 2 a.m. to get ink on paper, but both sides are happy with the deal,” said union spokesman Stu Shields, adding that the union’s major concerns — including increased workloads and forced overtime — were addressed.
Unifor Local 4276, which represents workers in areas including housekeeping, groundskeeping, the restaurant, guest relations and maintenance, served a 72-hour strike notice to the company on Monday. It cited growing frustrations with working conditions in light of the hotel’s recent major renovation.
“Like every deal, we didn’t get absolutely everything we wanted and neither did the employer — but it’s a deal we both can work with,” Shields said.
“We’re certain the staff are going to be happy about it.”
The deal also includes wage and benefit increases.
The ratification vote is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.
Empress spokesman Kerry Duff said the company is looking forward to moving on.
“We were positive and optimistic we’d reach a conclusion, but it’s nice to have done it before the deadline,” Duff said.
“We all worked very hard on it.”
Negotiations on a three-year contract have been ongoing for several months.
The union voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action three weeks ago.
