A lawyer for Toronto's Delta Chelsea Hotel says 70 employees were suspended for wearing union pins, not buttons for the International AIDS Conference.

"The AIDS Conference organizers asked the hotel if the employees could wear the official conference button, to show support ... and the hotel immediately agreed to that request," lawyer Stephen Shamie told CTV Newsnet on Friday.

But when union officials asked if employees could wear a union pin as well, hotel management decided it would look unprofessional.

"So therefore they determined to support the AIDS Conference ... and have the employees wear solely the AIDS Conference button," said Shamie.

He added that union officials were notified about the decision last week, and there were no incidents until today.

"This is solely an issue of management-employee relations," said Shamie.

The hotel suspended the employees for one day without pay.

Unite Here Local 75 represents 8,000 hotel workers in the Toronto area. Union spokesperson Andrea Calver is among the employees suspended from the hotel, and had claimed the hotel took issue with the conference pins.

Two Chelsea employees showed up for work Thursday wearing the union pins and were suspended.

On Friday, a further 70 employees then donned the same pins in a show of support, and were also suspended.

Conference delegates, believing management had suspended the employees for wearing conference pins, held an angry protest outside the hotel.

The union is one of the sponsors of the International AIDS Conference that ends Friday in Toronto. The hotel is host to union delegates.