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Volunteer Opportunities!

UNITE HERE Local 40 is looking for Community Volunteers to fight for a more affordable Vancouver!

Vancouver is increasingly being shaped by the interests of billionaires and their political allies. Major decisions are being made right now that will define the future of the city, while many residents feel shut out of the process. At the same time, rising costs and economic pressure are pushing people out of the communities they help sustain.

Local 40 has fought for better wages, working conditions, and dignity for hospitality workers across British Columbia. We represent housekeepers, cooks, servers, dishwashers, bartenders, and other workers in the tourism and food service industries.

But in Vancouver, the challenges workers face go beyond wages. Decisions about how the city is developed and who it is built for determines whether working people can continue to live here. Fighting for affordability and workers’ rights is rooted in building collective strength and influencing the decisions that shape our city.

We are looking for passionate people who want to connect with their community, develop organizing skills, and stand alongside workers fighting for a more affordable and equitable Vancouver.

What you’ll do:

  • Participate in outreach, canvassing, events, and campaign actions
  • Mobilize the community on issues of affordability and living wages
  • Learn organizing skills from experienced union organizers
  • Build confidence advocating for yourself and your community

Why join?

  • Gain hands-on organizing and campaigning experience
  • Develop leadership and communication skills
  • Meet people involved in labour, politics, and social justice movements
  • Make a direct impact on issues affecting workers and communities in Vancouver

Qualifications:

  • Strong belief in social justice and workers’ rights
  • Outgoing, reliable, and motivated to learn
  • Flexible with evenings and weekends
  • Multilingual skills are an asset
  • No organizing experience required. Full training will be provided

Details:

  • Location: Vancouver, BC (in-person required)
  • Schedule: flexible, evenings and weekends as needed
  • Duration: flexible, with opportunities for advancement into paid roles
  • This is an unpaid, volunteer role.

The decisions being made today will shape Vancouver for decades. Help us fight for a better future now.

Interested candidates should contact Kiera at [email protected].

Job Posting: UBC Student Organizer (Temporary, 3-month position)

UNITE HERE Local 40, BC’s union for hospitality workers, is seeking a UBC Student Organizer to recruit, train and mobilize students who want a city that works for us – not rich developers. We’re building a movement of workers, students, activists and renters to take back City Hall. We’re committed to developing leadership, organizing the unorganized, and to building a strong, fighting community movement.

This position is ideal for a current or former UBC student who has a passion for organizing the unorganized and wants to receive training to develop these skills. The successful applicant is driven, courageous, open to feedback, hard working, and a fighter with a deep commitment to social change. The position entails irregular hours including work in the evenings and weekends.

Responsibilities include:

  • Identify, recruit and develop student leaders through one-on-one communication;
  • Build and maintain active committees;
  • Identify and meet with student leaders to recruit and train them for campaigns;
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in order to move students to take collective action and build power;
  • Promote leadership development;
  • Help to organize and run meetings and large actions;
  • Frequently attend multiple distant locations within a short time span in order to meet with students at their homes and other sites.

Qualifications:

  • Dedication to social and economic justice;
  • Demonstrated skill in developing leaders, building unity within a diverse group, and inspiring others to take action;
  • Demonstrated ability in running, planning and driving campaigns and goals;
  • Demonstrated ability to use independent judgment within the context of an overall plan and structure;
  • Excellent communication skills in one-on-one and group settings;
  • Good organizational and administrative skills, including basic computer skills;
  • Willing and able to travel to appropriate work sites, and to work long and irregular work hours;
  • Must have valid driver’s license.

Job Requirements:

Previous experience working with student, labour, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and/or environmental activist communities is preferred.

Pay: $30/hour

Send Resume & Cover Letter to Mike Biskar, [email protected].

Job Posting: Community Canvassers (Vancouver)

(Full-Time; Temporary – 6 months)

Build the movement to Take Back Vancouver!

We’re building a movement of workers, students, activists and renters to take back City Hall.  Our representatives should be serving average working people, not rich developers. This role will involve signature gathering, persuasion, and mobilization of voters in support of living wages, affordable housing, and a city that works for us.

Qualifications:

The canvasser position is an entry-level position. No experience with canvassing or signature gathering is necessary. Successful applicants, however, will have the following characteristics:

  • Punctual and reliable
  • Good communication skills
  • Outgoing personality
  • Enjoys meeting and talking to people
  • Energetic and enthusiastic
  • Committed to advancing workers’ rights, renters’ rights, and affordability.
  • Interested in/passionate about voting and civic participation

Terms of Employment:

  • The Community Canvasser position is a temporary, full-time position (5 days; 40 hours/week)
  • Must be willing to work evenings and weekends.
  • The position begins April 1, 2026.
  • Canvassers with interest and demonstrated capacity will also have the opportunity for promotion to leadership positions on our canvass team.

Start Date: April 1, 2026

Compensation: $30 / hour

Please note: Applicants should send a resume, letter, and the names, titles and phone numbers of two professional references to [email protected].

 

 

Job Posting: Union Organizer

UNITE HERE Local 40, BC’s union for hospitality workers, is seeking a Union Organizer to recruit, train and mobilize workers to win strong workplace standards. We are committed to developing rank-and-file leadership, organizing the unorganized, and to building a strong, fighting labour union. Local 40is a growing local union with a diverse membership working in hotels, food service, airports, and resource camps across the province.

Candidates must demonstrate a commitment to working for social justice through a strong a labour movement. The successful applicant we are looking for is driven, courageous, open to feedback, hard working, and a fighter with a deep commitment to social change. The position entails irregular hours including work in the evenings and weekends.

Responsibilities include:

  • Identify, recruit and develop worker-leaders through one-on-one communication;
  • Build and maintain active worker committees;
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in order to move workers to take collective action and build power;
  • Identify and meet with worker leaders to recruit and train them as union leaders for their particular workplace campaign, in union and non-union settings;
  • Promote rank and file leadership development;
  • Identify workplace issues, learn the relevant collective agreement language, and pursue resolution through the grievance and arbitration procedures;
  • Move workers into action on the shop floor to enforce their rights;
  • Oversee and do grievance handling with worker leaders and organizers;
  • Help to organize and run meetings and large actions;
  • Frequently attend multiple distant locations within a short time span in order to meet with workers at their homes and other sites. Many of these locations will not be easily accessible by public transit.

 Qualifications:

  • Dedication to social and economic justice, and specifically to building a strong labor movement;
  • Demonstrated skill in developing leaders, building unity within a diverse group, and inspiring others to take action;
  • Demonstrated ability in running, planning and driving campaigns and goals;
  • Demonstrated ability to use independent judgment within the context of an overall plan and structure;
  • Excellent communication skills in one-on-one and group settings;
  • Good organizational and administrative skills, including basic computer skills;
  • Willing and able to travel to appropriate work sites, and to work long and irregular work hours;
  • Must have valid driver’s license.

 Job Requirements:

1 year of experience as a labour/union organizer, rank and file union activist, and/or experience working with the student, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and/or environmental activist communities.

Salary: Starting salary is $62,000.

Contact: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume outlining relevant experience and including references to [email protected]. Only candidates meeting all requirements will be contacted for interviews.

Job Posting: Campaign Researcher

UNITE HERE Local 40 is recruiting a full-time Campaign Researcher to conduct research, develop strategy, and move campaigns to win justice for BC’s hospitality workers.

UNITE HERE Local 40 is B.C.’s hospitality union and is leading the fight to organize the unorganized and at the forefront of campaigns for workers’ rights and quality jobs. We represent thousands of hospitality workers working in hotels, foodservice, remote resource camps, airports, and other venues across the province. We have a diverse membership that includes workers from many immigrant communities, and the majority of our members are women. Together, we are building a movement to empower working people to achieve greater power and opportunity.

Campaign researchers work closely with organizing staff and expected to work long and irregular hours to support campaigns.

Responsibilities include:

  • Conduct company, industry and real estate research using a wide variety of databases and online sources, as well as field work.
  • Develop and carry out campaign strategies and tactics.
  • Develop analyses and adapt them for various audiences (e.g., leadership & staff, workers, investors, political & regulatory bodies, and the public).
  • Identify and analyze new development projects in our industries and engage with relevant stakeholders.
  • Work directly with members to support them on workplace issues.
  • Communicate with a wide variety of players including community organizations, industry representatives, customers, policy makers, journalists and elected officials.
  • Work with UNITE HERE members, organizers, staff, allies and elected leaders to move campaigns forward through organizing, leading actions, and doing political work, as needed.

Qualifications include:

  • Activist experience and demonstrated commitment to fighting for workers’ rights.
  • BA degree and relevant research and/or organizing experience (e.g., labour, political, or community)
  • Strong analytical skills, writing, computer, and interpersonal skills
  • Willingness to work long and sometimes irregular hours; travel will be required.
  • Proficient with database and word processing software
  • Ability to take initiative, learn quickly, work well on a team, and handle competing priorities with deadlines.
  • Driver’s license

UNITE HERE Campaign Researchers have worked in the past as community and union organizers, journalists, urban planners, teachers, and researchers elsewhere.

Please be prepared to include in your application:

  • Cover letter—Please be sure to let us know why you’re motivated to fight for workers’ rights and share any experience you have with hospitality industry or service sector work.
  • Resume
  • Writing sample
  • Three references—preferably individuals who have supervised your work.

Please send application materials to Michelle Travis at  [email protected]. Only candidates meeting all requirements will be contacted for interviews.