Breaking: Horizon North Locks Out Minimum Wage Camp Workers and Leaves them Stranded in Fort St. John

Fort St. John, BC – Yesterday evening, nine workers delegated management at Horizon North’s Kobes Creek Lodge, asking for a fair contract. Before they could finish speaking, management informed them they were being locked out of work and had thirty minutes to gather their things. They were then bussed to Fort St. John and left in a hotel parking lot, hundreds of kilometers from their homes in Edmonton.

“It’s outrageous,” said Miranda Nedd, First Cook at Kobes Creek Lodge. “All we’re asking for is a living wage and they kick us out and leave us on the side of the road like garbage. We’re not disposable and we’re going to fight until we win. We are some of the lowest paid workers in BC’s resource camps. We deserve fair pay and respect.”

The 31 culinary, housekeeping and janitorial workers have been in bargaining since December last year and are demanding better wages, travel pay, safe workloads, and improved benefits. Workers joined UNITE HERE Local 40 last year in September over concerns about wages and working conditions.

They voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in February of this year and served a strike-notice on Friday. “We have been patient and committed throughout the bargaining process,” Nedd said. Monday evening’s delegation was a brief work stoppage to show the workers’ unity in demanding a fair contract. Kobes Creek workers ask for support from the BC camps community while they fight to return to work.

Media Contact: Rifat Islam, 604-619-0798, [email protected]