Quebec Hotel Workers with FC-CSN Protest in Solidarity with Locked Out Hilton Metrotown Hotel Workers in BC
Media Contacts:
French: Gabriel Velasco, 604-360-0507, [email protected]
English: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected]
Quebec City, QC — Today, hotel workers from Quebec and BC set up a symbolic picket line outside DSDL-owned l’Hotel PUR because the owner has refused to rehire workers they laid off due to the pandemic. DSDL Canada fired almost 100 long-term workers at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown in BC during COVID-19 instead of guaranteeing them a right to return to their jobs as business returns. Hilton Metrotown workers launched a boycott through 2022 for union customers that is costing the offshore company millions of dollars in lost business. Last week, the Alberta Federation of Labour issued a boycott deadline of August 8th to DSDL-owned Varscona, Mettera, and Matrix hotels in Edmonton. Now, l’Hotel PUR workers in Quebec, represented by FC-CSN, are demanding that DSDL end the conflict and bring workers back to their jobs.
In a demonstration of interprovincial solidarity to call on DSDL to end the labour dispute in BC and stop taking advantage of hotel workers across Canada, l’Hotel PUR workers sent letters to hotel management as well as hardship fund donations to the fired and locked out staff at Hilton Metrotown.
DSDL Canada Investments is a subsidiary of South Korean-based DSDL Co. The hotel owner is taking advantage of the pandemic to fire its workers and roll back decades of economic gains, disproportionately impacting women and immigrants.
Cecilia Rutter, locked out Hilton Metrotown worker:
“I’m angry at how DSDL is treating us hotel workers across Canada. I’m struggling to survive and only worked a few shifts before I got locked out on April 16th. That’s why I’m grateful to l’Hotel PUR workers for standing with us today in Quebec City. Together, we will fight back to protect our jobs.”
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UNITE HERE Local 40 is a labour union representing workers in the hotel, food service and airport industries throughout British Columbia. Learn more at UniteHereLocal40.org.