Hotel workers have walked off the job at the Novotel Toronto Centre where the French G20 delegation is expected to check in Thursday, just a day before the world leaders summit is scheduled to begin.
The 80 striking employees of the downtown hotel, which is run by French company Accor, began picketing the entrances to the building at 6:30 a.m., and expect their numbers to swell substantially at a rally Thursday afternoon as they are joined by other labour rights groups in town for the G20 and G8 summits.
By mid-day, 20 picketers remained, banging drums and blowing vuvuzelas. They had set up a giant inflatable rat across the street from the entrance, bearing a sign that said "Vive le Novotel Libre! Liberte, egalite, fraternite."
The picketers expected their numbers to swell substantially at a rally Thursday afternoon as they are joined by other labour rights groups in town for the G20 and G8 summits.
The hotel says there have been no cancellations on either Wednesday or Thursday and they still expect the French delegation to stay there Thursday night. The Brazilian, Japanese and Indonesian ambassadors are also reportedly staying at the Novotel. Employees said service would not be interpreted.
"Novotel Toronto Centre welcomes our G20 guests from all over the world. Our greatest priority is and will remain ensuring a safe and secure environment for our guests and team members," Eric Buitenhius, a Novotel vice-president, said in a statement.
A driver for the French delegation said they were already checked into the hotel and were not affected by the noise.
But employees at a bigger hotel represented by the same union, UNITE HERE Local 75, have petitioned to break off from the union saying it is ignoring them while it leverages the summit with Novotel.
The summits are "like a shield they're using to get something out of the employers," said Mohsin Bhuiyan, a server at Fairmont Royal York who led the decision to decertify from the union. Sixty per cent of Fairmont Royal York's 850 employees represented by UNITE HERE signed the petition.
The Fairmont Royal York won't be in a legal position to strike until after the summit concludes.
UNITE HERE Local 75 president Paul Clifford had previously promised not to hamstring Toronto, where residents are already tensely expecting major inconveniences as a result of the thousands of visitors and 12,000 security forces in town for the summits.
But Mr. Clifford also said: "If anyone would be justified in holding the G20 hostage, it would be hotel workers."
Workers object to what they see as global hotel conglomerates' disregard for job security and workplace safety, which they believe has eroded since 2008, the last time workers' contracts were negotiated.
Novotel workers will wear red and blue scarves like the fans of Les Bleus, the French soccer team "which brought shame to France at the World Cup just like Accor is doing at the G20," the union said in a release.
Get breaking news and analysis from the Globe throughout the G8/G20 by signing up for our free text message alerts or texting G20 to 123411. (Standard msg/data rates apply.)