Scabs kicked out of union hotel

Teamsters protesting outside company headquarters.  

The Rocky Mountaineer luxury train line made a big mistake when it tried to train scabs at a union hotel last week. The railroad company had locked out on-board attendants from Teamsters Local 31 in Canada since June. With a new tourist season starting soon, the Rocky Mountaineer thought it would be a good idea to train replacement workers at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

They needed to think again.

The Teamsters found out about the training session and threw up a picket line at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, according to The Tyee. Then,

...pickets were soon contacted by concerned hotel employees who belong to the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW). 

The CAW union members in turn spoke to Hotel Vancouver General Manager Andre' Zotoff, telling him that as union members they objected to scabs being trained at the hotel and that they would not be willing to cross the Teamster picket line. Before noon, the Rocky Mountaineer replacement workers and their management trainers had been asked to leave the hotel by Fairmont managers.

Rod Blackburn, Local 31's secretary-treasurer, said,

The CAW consulted with us and then they spoke with hotel management. It was sure nice to see this support. The Teamsters and the CAW haven't always seen things eye to eye, but this was just great.

It was truly a show of solidarity, as Rocky Mountaineer members voted to leave the CAW in January 2011 and become Teamsters.

Solidarity can take many forms, as the photo above shows. Locked-out Rocky Mountaineer on-board attendants held an eye-catching protest outside the company's headquarters last summer.