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On November 18, UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia voted to ratify a historic new contract in Vancouver’s hospitality industry. The vote to approve this ground-breaking contract ends the picket line outside of the hotel. The 59-day strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia has been the longest hotel workers’ strike in Vancouver’s history.

Rosewood hotel workers secured a wage and benefit package with record wage increases, standard-setting wage increases for cooks, higher gratuities for banquet workers and other premiums for tipped staff, and important new safety measures. The new agreement funds expansion of health care for seasonal banquet workers and Reflections restaurant staff, amid other improvements.

“We have finally won the contract we deserve.  I am very proud of my co-workers for staying united and who struck, rain or shine, for eight weeks. I am also thankful to all the people who supported us and reminded us that we are not alone. We have shown this hotel and others in Vancouver that hotel workers will fight for respect and a fair workplace,” said May Tanjusay, a room attendant and union bargaining committee member from Rosewood Hotel Georgia.

The contract settlement marks the end of a series of hotel strikes in Vancouver that began in September. Rosewood workers received an outpouring of support from the community who supported strikers in weekly actions and from customers who refused to cross the picket line.

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [email protected]

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UNITE HERE Local 40 is the hospitality workers’ union and represents members in the hotel, food service and airport industries throughout British Columbia. Learn more at UniteHereLocal40.org.

We are happy to announce that a tentative agreement was reached between UNITE HERE Local 40 and the Rosewood Hotel Georgia! Picket lines are down, and we will be holding our contract ratification vote on Monday November 18th. More details to follow.

We want to say a special thank you to our amazing labour and community allies for your solidarity with Vancouver’s striking hotel workers! Together, we have shown the city what working people can achieve.

Vancouver – The BC Labour Board ruled this week that the Rosewood Hotel Georgia committed multiple breaches of the province’s labour law and that the Hotel’s use of impermissible replacement workers undermined the ongoing strike of their employees. The strike is now in its sixth week.

Rosewood Hotel Georgia was found in breach of the anti-scab provisions of the Labour Code by using impermissible managers to do the work that would normally be done by the striking employees. The Board has issued a cease and desist order against the Rosewood which has been filed in court for enforcement.

Instead of sitting down and addressing the concerns of their employees that would resolve the historic strike, Rosewood Hotel Georgia instead repeatedly used unauthorized tactics in unsuccessful attempts to mitigate the impact of the strike on services inside the hotel, that are completely shut down without workers. In addition, both the Fairmont Pacific Rim and Shangri-La hotels acknowledged that the Hotel Georgia had reached out to them and that they had accommodated hotel reservations from guests leaving Hotel Georgia. Pursuant to a consent order the hotels will not offer further assistance to the Hotel Georgia during the strike and will not oppose the union seeking to picket at the hotels if they are found to be allies of the Hotel Georgia in the future. Hundreds of Rosewood Hotel Georgia workers remain on strike for a contract which provides a five-star standard for workplace safety including sexual harassment protections, economic and job security improvements in Vancouver.

“Our members at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia work hard on a daily basis to provide the five-star service the hotel is known for. They are fighting for better working conditions now, a brighter future at this hotel, and are demanding respect long-overdue at the Rosewood. Hotel management has broken off negotiations twice, and is refusing to meet with staff at the bargaining table to address their concerns. Instead of resolving this labour dispute, management is doing the work of our members, undermining the strike and attempting to run the hotel without us. We will remain on strike until the Rosewood Hotel Georgia starts behaving like a five-star hotel and acts as a responsible employer,” said Zailda Chan, UNITE HERE Local 40 President.

The Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore and Pinnacle Harbourfront hotels reached agreements to settle their strikes on October 16 with contracts that set new standards on compensation, workplace safety and job protection for hotel workers that will transform the lives of their employees. Despite this, Canada’s top-rated hotel has now become an outlier and is the only hotel still under strike. UNITE HERE Local 40 urges the hotel to return the bargaining table immediately and respect their workers whose five-star service has no substitute, illegal or otherwise.

 

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [email protected]

Vancouver – As of 6:00pm on October 16, 2019, UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike at the Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, and Pinnacle Harbourfront voted to ratify a historic new contract for those properties as well as at the Four Seasons, with industry leading gains including raises of up to 25%. In addition, new standards around workplace safety, sexual harassment, and job security have been pioneered in the new contracts.

 

The ratification of these contracts ends a 28 day strike of three major downtown Vancouver properties, yet the strike continues at Hotel Georgia. In addition to establishing industry transforming wage standards, the new contracts include innovative sexual harassment protections, workload reductions, and improvements in benefits and job security for restaurant and kitchen staff. The vote to approve this new contract ends the picket lines outside and boycotts of Hyatt, Westin and Pinnacle hotels, with workers at these properties proudly returning to work today.

 

“Our members are key to the success of these luxury hotels, and they chose the sacrifice of striking in order to win improved working conditions, respect and a real future in this industry,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40. “This is the first hotel strike in Vancouver in nearly two decades , and I’m deeply moved by the courage and vision of our members in taking on this fight. With this contract we have achieved a new standard in the hospitality industry which will improve the lives of not only our own members and their families, but the lives of all hotel workers in Vancouver. This strike has sent a strong message to the industry, not to underestimate the power of working people. We will now turn the momentum of this historic victory to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, where our strikers have been without a contract for ten months and management has failed to offer acceptable working conditions, wages, or security.”

 

“Our new contract is proof to me that Vancouver is our city!” said Nassa Chantacheevakul, banquet server at Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel. “As a millennial worker in Metro Vancouver, this contract will make the difference for me between struggling to make rent each month to being able to truly build a life here. I’m proud of what my coworkers and I won – we picketed, we rallied, we made ourselves heard, and we took care of each other during the 28 days of this strike. Not a single Vancouver hotel worker crossed the picket lines, and we proved what can be achieved in a union! We won raises higher than our bosses said we ever could. I look forward to going back to work and back to serving my guests!”

 

Almost two hundred hotel workers remain on strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. UNITE HERE Local 40 calls on Hotel Georgia to settle this strike.

 

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [email protected]

What: Hotel Workers Thanksgiving Lunch

When: Monday, October 14, 2019 at 12:30pm

Where: The Westin Bayshore, 1601 Bayshore Drive, Vancouver

 

Who: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers entering their fourth week on strike at four downtown Vancouver hotels (Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, Pinnacle Harbourfront), including hotel room attendants, cooks, front desk workers, and bellmen.

Note: Frontline UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike now for job security, a safe workplace, and wages that make one job enough to live in Vancouver will be available for interview in person at the action or in advance by phone. To connect with strikers in advance or at the action, contact Sharan.

 

WHY: 1,200 Vancouver hotel workers are on strike for the first time in nearly 20 years, demanding that American hotel corporations like Marriott stop paying Canadian workers less than American workers. This Thanksgiving long weekend Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s NDP and MP for Burnaby South, joins the strikers as they hold a feast in celebration of their fight, proud to stand united for job security, safe workplaces and wages which would make one job enough to live in Vancouver. They work for companies like Marriott which made over $2.8 billion in Canada alone last year. While Marriott gets richer, workers at their hotels like the Westin Bayshore are overworked to the risk of injury, can lose their jobs if the owner decides to close and reopen a new restaurant, and need wages that keep up with the rising cost of living. Vancouver’s hotel workers are proud to stand up to Marriott and the other corporations, developers and investors who own and operate hotels in our city that have made a life in Vancouver unaffordable. Jagmeet Singh is the first federal party leader to show support for striking hotel workers in their fight for secure and safe jobs in Canada’s most expensive city.

 

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [email protected]