Windsor’s Best Western workers stage ‘unity picket’ in Ingersoll

Best Western Windsor workers headed to Ingersoll, Ont. to strike against the hotel's owner.

Striking workers from the Best Western Plus Windsor Waterfront travelled to Ingersoll on Saturday to picket outside another property owned by the employer.

Unifor Local 195 members held an information picket outside Elm Hurst Inn and Spa, which is owned by Shmuel Farhi of Farhi Holdings Corporation, the same owner of the Best Western.

The two sides have been in a stalemate since workers walked off the job on June 1, largely due to differences over wages.

“We just want to educate the public what Farhi has been doing all along,” said Emile Nabbout, president of Local 195.

Nabbout described the picket as a “sign of solidarity” with Unifor members in the Ingersoll area.

“This is a unity, trying to call on Farhi, the owner of Farhi Holdings, to come to the table and bargain a fair deal for our employees who have been on the picket line for almost five weeks,” Nabbout said.

CTV News reached Farhi by phone on Saturday afternoon, but he declined to comment.

The union has said the majority of members make about $18.02 per hour, and the company is acting out of “greed” by not raising wages.

Tammy Smith, who works at the Best Western, said union members were invited by those in the Ingersoll area.

“It was the people in this area that said, welcome to this beautiful property here in [Ingersoll] that is owned by Farhi Holdings, and let’s just let people know what’s going on in Windsor,” Smith said.

Striking workers include staff from the front desk, maintenance, and housekeeping.

Current wages make it difficult for workers to make ends meet, Smith said.

“I’m not saying that $20 an hour they’re going to make their bills, but it’s a little bit easier for these people to get ahead,” Smith noted.

Smith said workers were dealt a “slap in the face” by the company when their demands were not taken seriously.

Despite about five weeks of job action, she added there remains an “upbeat” demeanour among workers.

“We take the jobs really, really seriously. And we feel like this is just an utter disrespect to send us out to the streets instead of staying at the negotiating table and bargaining with us,” Smith said.

Commenting about the Ingersoll picket, Ironwood Management Corp., who manages Best Western for Farhi, said:

“The move by the union to start attacking the guests of other Farhi owned businesses is disappointing. People are intelligent enough to tell the difference between legitimate labour disputes and meaningless Union rhetoric. Unifor is only risking their own embarrassment by trying to convince anyone that the Employer has been anything but fair with its employees.”

Workers previously rejected an offer after the employer forced the vote, calling it their “final offer,” at the time.

-With files from CTV News London’s Brent Lale.