COVID-19 Q&A for Members

We are hearing from members that employers are beginning to ask our members about their vaccination status. Members have questions and we take members’ medical privacy very seriously.

We have posed members’ questions to our lawyers and have prepared the following summary. Please reach out if you have questions or need assistance.

 

Can my employer ask if I’ve been vaccinated?

Employers are entitled to employee medical information where they reasonably need it in order to manage the workforce. Your employer can ask about your vaccination status if it will determine what COVID-19 safety protocols they will implement.  However, your employer is required to keep this information private and may not share your status with any employees who do not need to know it for their own work, including managers. Your employer has to ensure it keeps your private medical information secure and protects you from privacy breaches.

What will happen if I refuse to disclose my vaccination status?

If your employer has a reasonable basis to request your vaccination status and you refuse to answer, this may be grounds for discipline, suspension, or potentially even termination. Refusing to comply with a reasonable employer direction is insubordination and can justify discipline up to, potentially, termination. Of course, this depends on whether your employer actually needs to know your vaccination status, which depends on whether that information will determine what COVID-19 safety protocols they implement.

Alternately, employers could address failure to prove vaccination status as a non-disciplinary matter. If your employer requires proof of vaccination in order to perform certain tasks (e.g., public-facing work) that are a core part of your job, your employer could consider lack of proof of vaccination as inability to perform your job. Your employer might keep you off work without pay until you obtain proof of vaccination. This is similar to what happens when an employee who requires a driver’s licence to do their job loses their license temporarily: they are held out of work until their license is reinstated, if this is a reasonably brief period.

Can my employer require me to get vaccinated?

The answer to this question depends on the circumstances of your work. Employers have an obligation to ensure the health and safety of all workers. Employers also have a legitimate interest in protecting the health and safety of guests or customers. If you work in an environment where being unvaccinated could threaten the health and safety of other employees, guests, or customers, and less intrusive safety measures like masking and ventilation are insufficient, then your employer could be in a position to require vaccines.

For example, if you work in maintenance or on the phones and do not regularly interact with hotel guests, it is very unlikely that your employer could require you to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. On the other hand, if you are a server in a hotel restaurant where public health orders require patrons to be double-vaccinated, your employer would have a better argument that it is reasonable to require you, too, to be double vaccinated.

Because the law around mandating vaccines is still very unclear, most employers are erring on the side of not imposing vaccine mandates. Few employers outside healthcare settings are requiring employees to be vaccinated. We think it is more likely that employers who want their employees to be vaccinated to work in public-facing roles will simply not schedule unvaccinated employees to do that work, rather than disciplining or dismissing unvaccinated employees.

One of my co-workers has not been vaccinated and I don’t feel comfortable working with that person. What can I do?

This also depends on the context and whether there are any extra factors making this situation particular risky for you. If you have a medical condition that places you at higher risk from COVID, or if you live with someone who does, you might be entitled to a workplace accommodation. However, if you don’t have any higher risk factors then your employer’s only obligation is to comply with public health orders.

Right now, that means your employer must require masks in all public indoor settings but not in parts of the workplace that are not accessible to the public. Hotel restaurants and bars must prohibit socializing between tables and dancing. Organized gatherings are subject to capacity restrictions.

As of September 13, hotels, restaurants, and bars must require proof of vaccination for members of the public to access hotel restaurants, bars, gyms or exercise facilities, and indoor events with 50 or more people like weddings, parties, and conferences. This does not apply to employees at work. Employers are allowed to permit unvaccinated employees to work in these environments.

 

 

 

 

UNITE HERE Local 40 endorses Hotel Worker Naden Abenes, acclaimed as NDP Candidate for Vancouver Quadra in Federal Election

Vancouver, BC — Naden Abenes, a room attendant from the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, has been acclaimed by the NDP to be its candidate for Vancouver Quadra in the next federal election. UNITE HERE Local 40 is proud to endorse Naden, whose candidacy representing a major Canadian political party is unprecedented. If elected as MP, she would be the first Filipino Canadian woman to serve in the House of Commons.

Naden has been a member of UNITE HERE Local 40 and shop steward for 13 years. In 2019, she led her co-workers, many of them women and immigrants, in Vancouver’s largest hotel strike where they achieved historic wage increases and benefits.

She will not only be a strong voice for the riding, she will bring a unique perspective representing those who are often overlooked by Ottawa. If elected, Naden will likely be the first hospitality worker ever to serve as a Member of Parliament in Canada.

Naden raised her children as a single mom while working two jobs. She was laid off when the pandemic struck, and moved twice in the past year. She decided to enter politics to stand up for workers who have been made unequal by the economic impact of COVID-19. In BC’s hospitality industry alone, 50,000 hotel workers lost their jobs in 2020, and many have not returned to work. Instead of bringing them back to their jobs as business resumes, some hotels are firing their long-term workforce — many of whom are women of colour.

UNITE HERE Local 40, launched the BC Unequal Women campaign this past spring to call attention to how some hotels have taken advantage of the pandemic to terminate and replace workers. 

Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40: “I have known Naden since she started working at Hyatt Regency Vancouver and consider her one of our strongest union leaders. Her passion for workers’ rights, commitment to the labour movement, and relentless drive to fight even in the face of adversity is inspiring. Now more than ever, we need political representatives like Naden in Ottawa — someone with lived experience, someone who knows first hand the urgency of important issues like affordable housing, and a fair recovery for those hit hardest by the pandemic, particularly women of colour. I stand firmly behind her as our NDP candidate for Vancouver Quadra.”

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

Hilton Metrotown Workers Hold Action at South Korean Consulate in Vancouver

Vancouver, BC – Today, dozens of locked out Hilton Metrotown workers held an action outside the South Korean Consulate in Vancouver, urging their Ambassador to Canada, Keung Ryong Chang, to resolve the four month lockout involving a prominent Seoul-based hotel owner. The workers have been locked out by hotel management for 125 days. Hilton Metrotown is owned by DSDL Co., which is headquartered in Seoul.

The action follows multi-city actions in Canada and the U.S. Workers and allies recently delegated South Korean embassies in Ottawa and Washington D.C., as well as consulates in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Boston, and Seattle. They met with consulate and embassy officials, leafletted consulate staff, and demonstrated outside consulate buildings.

Instead of waiting for the pandemic to ease to bring workers back to their jobs, Hilton Metrotown fired almost 100 of them and locked out the rest in April this year. DSDL is owned by the prominent Cho family, who founded Hyosung, the world’s leading producer of spandex.

There has been an outpouring of labour and community support for the workers. The BC Federation of Labour issued a boycott of Hilton Metrotown in May, which could cost the hotel up to $3 million in lost business alone. On August 8, the Alberta Federation of Labour kicked off a boycott of three DSDL-owned hotels in Edmonton.

In a letter to the South Korean ambassador, UNITE HERE Local 40 President Zailda Chan expressed concerns that the crisis at Hilton Metrotown could negatively impact good faith and trust between communities of the two countries.

“It’s very unfair and shameful how DSDL refuses to bring us back despite repeated calls from workers and their supporters across Canada and the U.S. Many of us staff are long-term and women. We deserve to keep our jobs because we worked hard to help this hotel grow and become successful over 21 years,” said Liza Secretaria, locked out night auditor at Hilton Metrotown.

Media Contacts: Stephanie Fung, [email protected], 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, [email protected], 778-960-9785

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UNITE HERE Local 40 is a labour union representing workers in the hotel, food service and airport industries throughout British Columbia. Learn more at UniteHereLocal40.org.

 

For Immediate Release: Alberta Labour Movement Launches Boycott of 3 Edmonton Hotels as Deadline Passes

Varscona, Metterra and Matrix hotels come under boycott on eve of Edmonton Fringe Festival over failure to resolve BC lockout

Edmonton, AB – Today, UNITE HERE Canada, the Alberta Federation of Labour and other labour and community groups staged a lively demonstration and announced a boycott of the Varscona, Metterra and Matrix hotels.  Last month, labour groups issued a boycott deadline of August 8 if the hotels’ owner, DSDL Canada Investments, failed to resolve a four-month lockout of workers at Hilton Vancouver Metrotown.  The customer boycott comes as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and major events including the Edmonton Fringe Festival return.

Dozens of protestors kicked-off the demonstration at the Varscona and marched down Whyte Avenue to Metterra Hotel and through Old Strathcona.  UNITE HERE Canada and Alberta labour groups are urging residents and all travellers, including attendees of the upcoming Edmonton Fringe Festival, to avoid patronizing the three Edmonton hotels as well as Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, which is already under boycott.

“On behalf of the 170,000 affiliated members of the Alberta Federation of Labour, we stand in solidarity with hotel workers.  We will not patronize DSDL’s hotels in Edmonton until they resolve the lockout of Hilton Metrotown workers and agree to call back their long-term staff,” said Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

DSDL has taken advantage of the pandemic to eliminate workers and erode decades of economic gains, disproportionately impacting women and immigrant workers.  In BC, DSDL-owned Hilton Metrotown fired 97 workers who were laid off during the pandemic and refuses to bring them back as business recovers.  The hotel locked out the remaining workers this April; they have been locked out for almost seventeen weeks. In Quebec, DSDL attempted to cheat hotel workers at a fifth hotel, Hotel Pur, from collecting their full severance.

“We thank the Alberta labour movement for supporting locked out workers in BC.  DSDL’s poor treatment of workers has consequences. Their refusal to resolve the Hilton Metrotown lockout and to commit to return long-term workers to their jobs is why the boycott of DSDL-owned hotels is growing.  As the economy reopens, customers should use hotels which respect their workers rather than take advantage during a pandemic,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40, which represents Hilton Metrotown workers in BC.

DSDL Canada Investments is a subsidiary of South Korea-based DSDL Co.  DSDL was founded by a prominent and politically connected family whose chairman was convicted and sentenced to prison for embezzlement and illegal financial transactions in South Korea.  The chairman, Cho Wuk Rai, was later pardoned by former President Lee Myung-bak, a family relative of Cho’s.

CONTACT:  Michelle Travis, 778-960-9785, [email protected].

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Women Labour Leaders Lead Mass Protest, Block Traffic to Support Women Fired by Hotel Industry

Heads of BC’s largest unions and Canadian Labour Congress Demand Hotel Industry Return Workers to their Jobs in Unprecedented Sit-In Action in Burnaby

Vancouver, BC: Today, women leaders from B.C.’s largest labour unions and across Canada joined women hotel workers to lead a mass sit-in that brought Burnaby traffic to a halt. They led hundreds of protestors into the streets to occupy the intersection of Kingsway and Willingdon to demand the hotel industry return long-term staff to their jobs. Hotel housekeepers, front desk agents, and other women hotel workers from Hilton Metrotown and Pacific Gateway, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, took over the street with union leaders to protest the hotel industry’s treatment of workers during the pandemic and called for more action on the part of industry and government to protect workers’ jobs. The demonstration kicked-off at Hilton Metrotown in Burnaby where workers have been locked out for 112 days.

The unprecedented sit-in action brought together women presidents and officers of BC’s major unions, including Teri Mooring, BC Teachers’ Federation; Barb Nederpel and Betty Valenzuela, Hospital Employees’ Union; Karen Ranalletta, CUPE BC; Kim Novak, UFCW 1518; Kari Michaels, BC General Employees’ Union; Coleen Jones, Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Sussanne Skidmore, BC Federation of Labour; Zailda Chan, UNITE HERE Local 40, as well the newly elected leadership team of the Canadian Labour Congress, Bea Bruske, Lily Chang, and Siobhan Vipond, and other leaders in support of women hotel workers who are the backbone of the industry and have borne the brunt of the pandemic.

The mass protest put focus on Hilton Metrotown where workers were locked out on April 15 after the hotel terminated 97 long-term staff, including women with 20 years on the job. The hotel has used pandemic firings in an effort to strip away decades of hard-won economic gains. Striking workers from Pacific Gateway in Richmond were also among the women who led the action. Pacific Gateway, a federal quarantine site, terminated 142 workers, 90 of whom are women. A human rights complaint over sex and racial discrimination was filed against the hotel in June, alleging women, particularly racialized women, have been disproportionately targeted for terminations while men’s jobs were more likely to be protected.

When the pandemic hit BC in March 2020, 50,000 hospitality workers were laid off. Instead of committing to bring them back as business recovers, the hotel industry terminated thousands of workers, many of whom are women and immigrants. In response to the industry’s efforts to erode workers’ economic security, UNITE HERE Local 40 launched the BC Unequal Women campaign to call attention to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women hotel workers. With recovery in sight, the industry’s actions have contributed to their current labour shortage woes.

Hilton Metrotown and Pacific Gateway hotel workers have received widespread support from BC’s unions, the BC Federation of Labour which issued a public boycott of both hotels, community groups across the Lower Mainland, and elected officials across municipal, provincial and federal levels of government.

 

Quotes: 

Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40:

“Hilton Metrotown is a prime example of how employers are using the pandemic to erode everything workers built over decades. But workers aren’t letting the hotel industry get away with this. Together, with union and community allies across Canada, women leaders are standing up and calling on the hotel industry to bring fired women back to their jobs.”

Baljinder Kahlon, fired housekeeping supervisor at Hilton Metrotown:

“While businesses are reopening and people are travelling again now that border restrictions are lifted, I should be gearing up to go back to my housekeeping job. But I’m not. Instead, my hotel says that after 20 years of my loyalty and service, they don’t want me. I raised my kids on this job. The hotel industry is treating us women as if we’re disposable, which is unacceptable. That’s why we are leading the way for a better future for all workers so that no one gets left behind.”

Teri Mooring, President of the BC Teachers’ Federation:

“It’s disgusting how the Hilton Metrotown has exploited the pandemic to blatantly disregard the rights of its unionized employees, most of whom are women of colour. The BCTF and our 47,000 members stand in solidarity with UNITE HERE! Local 40 members and will continue to take our business elsewhere until these workers’ rights are fully restored.”

Karen Ranalletta, President of CUPE BC:

“The way the Hilton has treated its workers – mostly women, mostly racialized – tells you all you need to know about this company’s so-called values. Until this hotel negotiates a fair resolution with UNITE HERE Local 40, this hotel won’t see a nickel’s worth of business from CUPE BC. I want Hilton management to hear this: Local 40 has the full support of our 100,000 members.”

Barb Nederpel, President of Hospital Employees’ Union:

“HEU’s 50,000+ members stand firmly with UNITE HERE Local 40 members who are fighting for their livelihoods. We will not back down until hotel employers guarantee recall rights for all laid off workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and treats these workers—made up mainly of women and people of colour—with the fairness and respect they deserve.”

Stephanie Smith, President of BC General Employees’ Union:

“The Hilton Metrotown is using the pandemic as an excuse to attack their workers’ basic rights. It’s unconscionable and it must stop. The 82,000+ members of the BCGEU stand in solidarity with the women of Unite Here Local 40. We will support their fight for fairness however we can for as long as it takes.”

Sussanne Skidmore, Secretary-Treasurer of the BC Federation of Labour:

“It’s shameful that Hilton Metrotown has locked out their long-term workers for 112 days. On behalf of the BC Federation of Labour, we will continue to boycott this hotel and keep the public pressure on to ensure that women return to their jobs!”

Bea Bruske, President of the Canadian Labour Congress:

“These workers should be treated like the heroes they are. Hotel workers, the majority of whom are women, have been among those hardest hit by the economic impact of the pandemic.  We do not tolerate employers who try to recover on the backs of women by making work more precarious and insecure. The Canadian Labour Congress, representing over three million workers, fully supports workers at Hilton Metrotown, Pacific Gateway and others who are courageously fighting for their jobs.”

For additional 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.