For immediate release
February 20, 2007

Matthew Erlich

212-265-7000 x4754

Canadian Workers Stand Up for Their New Jersey Counterparts

Braving the Cold, Workers in Montreal Rally to Challenge Corporate Bully

MONTREAL, CANADA, Feb. 20, 2007 — On Valentine’s Day, Canadian garment workers rallied outside the headquarters of Montreal-based real estate giant, the RosDev Group, in support of New Jersey hotel workers. The demonstrators, who are members of the Quebec Council of UNITE HERE, came out to support workers at the Crowne Plaza Secaucus Meadowlands hotel.
 
For two years, RosDev Group, who acquired the Crowne Plaza location in 2005, has hampered workers’ attempts to negotiate a contract that will ensure them decent wages, benefits and working conditions.
 
“We came out today to show RosDev that it can’t ignore these workers any longer,” explained Lina Aristeo, Quebec director of UNITE HERE and vice-president of the Quebec Federation of Labor. “We stand behind the 100 workers of the Crowne Plaza Secaucus and we won’t stop until they get the contract they deserve.”
 
The afternoon demonstration involved about 50 workers from clothing maker Samuelson Ltd., which is located across the street from Rosdev Group’s headquarters. A heart-shaped box was delivered to Rosdev’s offices with a message to the company to respect its workers in New Jersey.
 
UNITE HERE represents approximately 450,000 workers in the hospitality, gaming, food service, laundry and garment and manufacturing industries in the United States and Canada.
 

This is not the first time RosDev Group President Michael Rosenberg has come under fire for unfair treatment of workers. In 1993, all 180 hotel workers at a downtown Montreal Holiday Inn were thrown out on Christmas Eve after the bankruptcy of a company controlled by Rosenberg. The hotel, however, remained open but replaced—and locked out for 3 ½ years—all its unionized workers. Similar events occurred on Easter of the same year at another Montreal hotel when Rosenberg again declared bankruptcy and fired all the hotel’s union workers.