Media Advisory: SFU Food Service Workers to Hold Rally for a Living Wage

WHAT: Food service workers at SFU will be demonstrating today, Thursday March 31, to urge Chartwells, a dining services contractor, to give them a living wage as they resume contract bargaining.

WHERE: Convocation Mall at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby BC

WHEN: TODAY, Thursday March 31 at 4 pm 

WHO: SFU food service workers and community allies

WHY: With inflation soaring across the lower mainland and the impact of Covid reducing hours of work and instigating safety concerns, SFU food service workers are fighting for a living wage, safer workloads, and the same benefits as direct SFU employees. While bargaining resumed earlier in March due to pressure from workers’ button-up action where they donned “Living Wage Now!” buttons, the company has given a proposal far below what workers are demanding. Food service workers at SFU are represented by UNITE HERE Local 40.

VISUALS: SFU food service workers and community allies marching, making noise and holding signs that say “Living Wage NOW!”

Contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356 or [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.

 

ATCO Valemount Camp Workers Reach Union Contract

Workers at Trans Mountain pipeline secure deal including 10-22% wage increases immediately

Valemount, B.C. — Camp workers in Valemount, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40,  have ratified a standard-setting union contract with ATCO by a 98% “yes” vote. Valemount camp is the first unionized ATCO camp on the Trans Mountain pipeline. The agreement includes wage increases of up to 22% immediately depending on classifications, housekeeping workload protections, free and improved health care coverage, and up to $455 per month in travel pay for some workers.

The agreement with ATCO covers frontline workers who cook, clean, sanitize, and maintain the Trans Mountain pipeline camp. The union bargaining committee achieved their first two-year collective agreement after workers formed a union in January this year. As housing costs have dramatically risen in northern B.C. over the years, the new contract provides job security and improved working conditions for many. 1st Cooks will be making $31.40 and 2nd Cooks $29.40 in less than a year, with retroactive bonuses for most workers.

“I’m proud that ATCO Valemount workers were able to come together, talk with each other,  and win this life-changing contract. It’s given me peace of mind. Not only will working conditions improve, I can also save for my future. As a Valemount local where prices are going up, having more money in our pockets means a lot. Now with better pay, healthcare, and dental, I can better support my family,” said Ann Bridge, a baker at ATCO Valemount Camp.

This new agreement comes after ATCO Blue River camp workers unionized earlier this month. With hundreds of newly organized camp members including those at Civeo, Horizon North Kitimat, Kitimat LNG, and Parsnip Lodge, UNITE HERE Local 40 is the fastest growing camp workers’ union in northern B.C.

Media Contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected]

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

B.C. Hotel Housekeepers Invite Fairmont Hot Springs Resort CEO to Meet Unequal Women and Clean Rooms for a Day

Vancouver, BC — B.C. hotel housekeepers from Hilton Metrotown, Pan Pacific Vancouver, and Pacific Gateway, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, are inviting Fairmont Hot Springs Resort CEO Vivek Sharma to meet the province’s Unequal Women and clean rooms for a day, in response to sexist comments he made earlier this month. At the B.C. Tourism and Hospitality Conference in Richmond on March 9, Sharma asked women in the audience to stand and be honoured for International Women’s Day. Then he told them to “go clean some rooms and do some dishes.”

“I’m extremely offended,” said locked out Hilton Metrotown housekeeper Cecilia Rutter who served the hotel for 21 years. “It’s clear Mr. Sharma doesn’t realize that women are the backbone of B.C.’s tourism and hospitality industry.Does he think our hard work and our many years of service to guests is a joke? Does he think we’re unequal to him? As a single mom, my housekeeping job helped me raise my son and I’m proud to be fighting on the picket line now for a better future for my co-workers and all women who work in hospitality.”

“On behalf of B.C.’s Unequal Women who were terminated by hotel employers in the pandemic and women hotel workers who face precarity back on the job, we invite Mr. Sharma to meet us and learn how he can make the industry a ‘safer place’ for women and other underrepresented groups,” said Naden Abenes, a housekeeper at Hyatt Regency Vancouver who ran in last year’s federal election as the NDP candidate for Vancouver Quadra. “That’s what he said in his apology he wanted to do, so we’re giving him a chance to make amends. The best way is by meeting the very women whom he degraded and see what it’s like firsthand to be a housekeeper. I’m sure he’ll gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of women in B.C.’s hospitality industry once he walks a mile in our shoes.”

UNITE HERE Local 40 launched a website last spring, B.C. Unequal Women, to call attention to how hotels have used the pandemic to roll back the clock on women’s economic security. Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, Pan Pacific Vancouver, and Pacific Gateway hotels terminated their employees over the course of Covid. Many of the workers affected were long-term and women of colour.

For more information, please contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected], or Michelle Travis, 778-960-9785, [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.

Media Advisory: Hilton Metrotown Workers to hold Press Conference in Response to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort CEO’s Sexist Comments

WHAT: Locked out Hilton Metrotown hotel workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, will hold a press conference today, Tuesday March 22 at 11 am, to address sexist remarks made by Fairmont Hot Springs CEO Vivek Sharma. At the B.C. Tourism and Hospitality Conference in Richmond on March 9, Sharma asked women in the audience to stand and be honoured for International Women’s Day. Then he told them to “go clean some rooms and do some dishes.”

WHERE: Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, 6083 McKay Avenue, Burnaby

WHEN: TODAY, Tuesday, March 22 at 11:00 AM (Pacific) 

WHO: Locked out Hilton Metrotown workers and a representative from UNITE HERE Local 40

WHY:  UNITE HERE Local 40 launched a website last spring, B.C. Unequal Women, to call attention to how hotels have used the pandemic to roll back the clock on women’s economic security. Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, Pan Pacific Vancouver, and Pacific Gateway hotels terminated their employees over the course of Covid. Many of the workers affected were long-term and women of colour. Hilton Metrotown workers, on behalf of B.C. women hotel workers, will be speaking out and responding to Vivek Sharma’s comments.

VISUALS: Locked out hotel workers, many of whom are women of colour, speaking and holding signs.

For more information, please contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected], or Michelle Travis, 778-960-9785, [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.

Canadian Hotel Owner Cited in Congressional Letter Urging Greater Transparency on Forgiveness of U.S. Paycheck Protection Program Loans

U.S. Representatives highlight loans to hotel chain Westmont Hospitality Group in letter to Small Business Administration calling for “vigilant oversight” of loan forgiveness process.

Vancouver, B.C. – Members of U.S. Congress are raising questions about U.S. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans received by the hospitality industry and highlighting Canadian hotel owner, Westmont Hospitality Group, which received $48 million in PPP loans. Westmont affiliates own or operate more than 20 hotels across Canada, including Pan Pacific Vancouver. 

On Tuesday, U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) along with 17 other co-signers, sent a letter to the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration to call for greater transparency in light of concerns whether PPP loans were used in accordance with congressional intent to protect hospitality workers’ jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The letter urges the SBA to provide increased oversight regarding forgiveness of the loans before they are forgiven.  

The letter highlights Mississauga-based Westmont Hospitality Group, an international hotel company that owns and operates over 400 hotels around the world, as an example of the need for “vigilant oversight” and improved transparency. According to data provided by the SBA, Westmont affiliates received $48 million through 44 PPP loans that were tied to approximately 5,300 jobs. Despite this, the letter states, a lack of transparency by the SBA has made it “impossible” to determine whether those 5,300 jobs were actually retained, yet over $28 million of the Westmont-connected loans have already been forgiven.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was passed by Congress as part of the CARES Act of 2020 in an effort to support small businesses and save jobs in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. PPP borrowers must spend at least 60% of their loans on payroll costs in order to receive full loan forgiveness. 

UNITE HERE Local 11, the labor union that represents hospitality workers in California and Arizona, presented evidence to Congress Members regarding one hotel connected to Westmont that received a PPP loan but issued WARN Act notices that it had permanently separated 122 workers, raising the question whether PPP had really served its purpose of protecting jobs.   

On Wednesday, UNITE HERE Local 11 submitted testimony to the House Small Business Administration’s Small Business Oversight, Investigations and Regulations Committee hearing titled “An Empirical Review of the Paycheck Protection Program.”

Among the entities that received loans listing Westmont’s Texas office address, seven listed “Red Roof Inn” but did not indicate which specific hotel properties were recipients of PPP funds or whether workers benefitted from the loans.  

Westmont owns and operates dozens of Red Roof Inn properties in the United States.  The company is also affiliated with R&R Real Estate Investment Trust (TSXV: RRR-UN) which owns a portfolio of Red Roof Inn hotels in the United States that are managed by the family company that owns Westmont. Westmont president, Majid Mangalji, serves as the Executive Chairman and is the largest shareholder of R&R REIT. According to public filings, R&R REIT received loans worth $1.3 million under the U.S. CARES Act. They have since been forgiven. 

Congressional letter available here. 

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UNITE HERE Local 40 is a labour union representing hospitality workers throughout British Columbia. UNITE HERE Local 40 and UNITE HERE Local 11 are affiliates of UNITE HERE International Union.  The union represents Westmont workers in certain hotels across Canada and the United States.