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Ontario council adopts hotel-worker safety ordinance; workers press for stronger initiative
Summary
Council adopted an ordinance requiring hotels to provide personal safety devices to employees and designate responsible staff for alerts, but Unite Here Local 11 workers and organizers urged the city to adopt a stronger, worker-drafted initiative instead. Council voted 5–0 to approve the staff ordinance.
The Ontario City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance requiring hotels to provide personal safety devices at no charge to on-site hotel employees, designate on-duty managers or security personnel to respond to device alerts, and include certain worker safety rights during cleaning operations.
City Manager (S8) presented item 17, saying the ordinance "requires that a personal safety device be afforded to every one of the hotel employees at no charge" and that it aligns with "modern best practices of the hospitality industry." He noted the measure also addressed rights such as allowing room doors to be opened during cleaning when appropriate and assigning responsibility for device alerts.
Several hotel workers and union organizers, including Maria Garcia (S19) and Natasha Wang (S19), urged the council not to adopt the staff ordinance in place of a voter initiative backed by workers. Maria Garcia said the worker initiative had been "signed by 15,000 Ontario voters that have been tried and have worked successfully in many other cities" and asked the council not to support item 17. Natasha Wang urged councilmembers to consider the timing allowed for compliance and questioned whether the staff ordinance's training and anti-retaliation provisions were as protective as the voter proposal: "Are you taking the issue of hotel worker safety seriously or are you not?" she asked.
Councilmembers discussed parallels between the staff proposal and the initiative, with some members noting the ordinance codifies "the most workable practical parts" of the initiative while excluding other initiative provisions that involve wages, timekeeping and compensation. Councilmember Bowman moved to adopt the staff ordinance and the motion passed 5–0.
The ordinance establishes a compliance framework and training requirements as set out in the staff report; union backers indicated the voter initiative includes more expansive protections, annual training and stronger anti-retaliation language. City staff said they would proceed with implementation steps in coordination with affected hotel employers and enforcement units.
The council's action creates a city-level safety requirement while the voter initiative process and a scheduled special election will proceed independently for broader labor and wage proposals.
