BREAKING: Coast Victoria Hotel Workers are On Strike!

For Immediate Release

Victoria, BC — Hospitality workers at Coast Victoria Hotel walked off the job and onto the picket line this morning, launching the city’s first hotel strike in decades.

Room attendants, front desk agents, kitchen staff, servers, and other employees began striking ahead of the busy August weekend, demanding safer workloads, respect on the job, and living wages. The workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, are conducting a 1-day strike to protest the company’s indifference to their longstanding concerns. Picket lines went up at 5AM this morning and will impact staffing at the hotel and the Blue Crab Seafood House.

The city of Victoria is experiencing a surge of visitors with hotel occupancy reaching nearly 92% last month. Coast Victoria has met the influx of tourists by charging hotel guests nearly $400 per night and up to $1,000 for some rooms. Workers are calling for living wages to keep up with the rising cost of living in the city, as the living wage in Victoria has climbed to nearly $27 an hour.  Workers are also demanding safe housekeeping workloads, proper staffing, and respect on the job.

The workers have been in negotiations for a new collective agreement for several months. Their last collective agreement expired on April 30.

Coast Victoria is owned and operated by APA Hotels & Resorts, the Tokyo-based hotel chain. In February, APA reported record earnings across international operations of 226 billion yen ($2.1 billion CAD) and stated in a company publication that the company was “setting sales and profit records for the second period in a row.”

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