MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TELE-PRESS CONFERENCE (for Monday, March 30)
RSVP: https://forms.gle/oLF7jfgZyDVfQ5Ls7
Hospitality workers’ union UNITE HERE to host tele-press conference on impact of COVID-19 on industry’s frontline workers in Canada
WHAT: Tele-press conference with UNITE HERE Canada union leadership to discuss the unprecedented economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on workers nationwide in industries as diverse as hotels, stadiums, airlines and food service. With mortgages, utilities and rent coming due April 1, UNITE HERE Canada calls on public officials to take immediate action to ensure that hospitality workers, like all Canadian workers, can continue to live and pay their bills, and that those still working are recognized as essential employees.
WHO:
• Ian Robb, UNITE HERE Local 47 President and UNITE HERE Canadian Director
• Zailda Chan, UNITE HERE Local 40 President, Vancouver
• Guled Warsame, UNITE HERE Local 75 President, Toronto
• Kevin Porter, UNITE HERE Local 272 President, Ottawa
WHEN: Monday, March 30 at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT
WHERE: Media must RSVP for call-in information. RSVP here: https://forms.gle/oLF7jfgZyDVfQ5Ls7
WHY: UNITE HERE represents over 18,000 hotel and hospitality workers across six locals in Canada. Hospitality workers have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis from day one. Their work – cleaning rooms and public places, cooking and serving food, welcoming guests, carrying bags – puts them in daily contact with the public and in areas with very high risk of viral transmission.
Their workplaces – hotels, casinos, airports, arenas, universities, schools and remote resource camps – are among the first and worst hit by closures and layoffs. The Hotel Association of Canada estimates that 80 to 90 percent of the nation’s hotel industry will close this year. That means 200,000 to 250,000 hotel workers are losing jobs, the majority of them women, single parents, immigrants and people of color.
UNITE HERE Canada leadership will provide updates on the industry, call for immediate solutions, and take questions.
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UNITE HERE is a labor union that represents over 300,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in North America. UNITE HERE represents over 18,000 hotel and hospitality workers across six locals in Canada.