BREAKING: Workers Deliver 72-hour Strike Notice to Downtown Vancouver Hotel

Vancouver – Workers at Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Vancouver Downtown have issued 72-hour strike notice to their employer.  They join hundreds of other hotel workers across Downtown Vancouver who are demanding higher wages and better working conditions while the city’s hotels draw record-setting revenues.

Room attendants, front desk agents, cooks, dishwashers and others at the 245-room hotel near the Granville Entertainment District will be in a position to take strike action effective Monday, July 29.

“Our wages are too low considering how expensive Vancouver is today. Rent, groceries, and prices, for basically everything, has gone up. My co-workers and I are having to consider second jobs to get by.  The hotel is charging guests over $500 for a room tonight, but management dismisses us when we say we deserve more,” said Andrea Fuentes, a room attendant at the Holiday Inn & Suites for 22 years.

Nearly 2,000 hotel workers with UNITE HERE Local 40 are in contract bargaining across downtown Vancouver this summer demanding wages that keep up with the city’s astronomical cost of living. Hotel workers at Hyatt Regency Vancouver launched a one-day strike action last week and rallied around the demand that it takes $40/hour to live in Vancouver.

Vancouver’s hotel industry continues to boom with soaring room rates. Hotel room revenues reached nearly $1.4 billion last year, rebounding strongly after the pandemic, and are on track to top last year’s earnings.  While hotel room revenues hit record levels in Vancouver and province-wide, hotel staffing in accommodations has declined 30% on average since 2019.

Holiday Inn workers voted 96% in favour of strike action earlier this month. The collective agreement expired in May.  The hotel is operated by Atlific Hotels.

Contact: Michelle Travis, [email protected], 778-960-9785