For 10 days, playing host to one of the world’s largest and most important film events, Toronto—making sure that none of the TIFF-associated signs deviate from the obligatory Helvetica font—dresses itself up as the cosmopolitan city it aspires to be (and sometimes is). Maclean’s was first, but no doubt not the last, to remind its readers that, yes, Toronto is indeed a “World Class city.”

Being a global city, however, means that you also have global problems. As much as the flashes flare, the gossipers chatter, it remains true that the entire spectacle rests on tremendous amounts of work: much of it grossly underpaid, excessively strenuous and unjustifiably tenuous. So it’s exciting to see the workers of one of Toronto’s premier hotels (the Fairmont Royal York) walk off the job today in a strike action organized by Unite Here, the same union that led the G20 hotel workers’ strike. The injuries, the poor-pay, the long hours, the mounting workloads, the tyrannical bosses today proved too much to bear (all of this while the employer harvests a windfall from the festival).

That celebrities and the local actors’ (ACTRA) and set workers’ (IATSE) unions immediately joined them reminds us that films are not just art, and film festivals not just parties, but also work. Hotel workers, actors, and on-set workers have all taken a beating these past few years and seeing them join together injects an important note into Toronto’s celebration of film: that despite the very well put together show things really aren’t going so well for a lot of people. But they’re working to change that.

Update: Monday September 13, 11:35 am

The strikes continue.  Workers at the Hyatt regency walked off the job yesterday for 24 hours.  I wouldn’t be surprised if these short strikes continue throughout the film festival.  What caught my eye most, however, wasn’t Martin Sheen but the following from one of the strikers:

“As TIFF celebrates the new Bell Lightbox with a street party for Torontonians, and the Hyatt boosts its profits with film guests this week, we continue to be treated like second-class citizens by the Hyatt owners,” said Althea Porter-Harvey, a Room Attendant at the Hyatt Regency. “We deserve better than that. We’re joining the street party today.”

The last time a hotel service workers’ labour dispute and that ol’ showtime razzle-dazzle collided, it resulted in the “Bad Hotel” video, seen below. We can hope today’s strike results in a similar explosion of social justice and jazz hands:

Unite Here local 232 hotel workers strike in San Francisco. Photo cred: Steve Rhodes

Things just got a little more complicated for Toronto in the buildup to this month’s G20 summit.  If the 10,000 uniformed officers, 1,000 or so unlicensed private security guards, airport-tight surveillance and checkpoints, the much debated “sound cannon” and the expected thousands of protesters didn’t promise enough drama, the largest hotel workers’ union in the city has voted to give strike authorization should contract negotiations for a renewed collective agreement break down.

Unite Here local 75, representing 5,500 hotel and hospitality workers from 32 hotels in the Toronto area, voted 94 percent in favour of striking if a new contract is not established. In a press release on their website, “declining working conditions and other draconian measures” are cited as causes for the strike: shortened and split shifts, increasing reliance on part time workers and contracted out services such as food prep have all resulted in a loss of income and benefits for the workers.  While hotels are coming out of the recession and enjoying the economic recovery, many forecasting promising years ahead including substantial profits from the G20, hotel workers have been locked in the recession.  The major issues, according to union reps, are job security and workplace conditions.

The strike comes at a particularly inopportune time for the city of Toronto, as nearly every hotel room is booked to accommodate the expected 15,000 visitors.  While this has many opposed to the G20 excited at the prospect of world leaders performing their own turn down service, concerns over Toronto’s hospitality industry grinding to a halt during a strike were quickly laid to rest by Unite Here; the only hotel that stands to be affected be a strike before the G20 is the Novotel Toronto Centre where workers will walk off the job on June 23 or 24 if a new collective agreement is not accepted.

Paul Clifford, president of the local, said that no other hotel will be in a “legal striking” position before the summit but that other hotel workers would join those picketing at Novotel; “that’ll be the focal point of our attention prior to the G20,” he said.  Cifford continued, “we want to both act responsibly for the G20 but also show that we are really determined to win a better standard for hotel workers, so that’s why we’re possibly engaging in a very limited strike action at the Novotel Toronto Centre.”

While the impact of the strike may not be as far reaching as originally thought, some French delegates and media personnel staying at the Novotel may be forced to navigate picket lines—as well as G20 security measures—during the summit.