Archive for category: News

Hilton Metrotown, Lufthansa Named in Lawsuit Filed by Protester Struck by Bus / Workers Launch Website Calling On Lufthansa’s Flight Crew to Stop Crossing Picket Line at Hilton Metrotown

Vancouver, B.C. — A protester hit by a bus carrying Lufthansa flight crew across the picket line has filed a lawsuit against Lufthansa and the Hilton Metrotown. Lufthansa crew members had crossed the picket line for weeks ahead of the shocking incident despite Hilton Metrotown workers’ protests to stop. Now, the workers are launching a website — www.lufthansastreikbrecher.org — to call on Lufthansa’s flight crew unions to stop crossing their picket line. Lufthansa flight crews are using the hotel as a stopover accommodation, where they have been intercepted by locked out workers leafleting, chanting, and holding German signs and banners. 

The new website features video footage of the bus, which was carrying Lufthansa crew members, barreling into the picket line and hitting a protester. A security guard can be heard yelling, “Run them over!” The protestor is seeking damages including $10,000 for pain and suffering, over the motives of the hotel, bus driver, and security for driving him over, and costs incurred from the incident. The defendants in the lawsuit are Charter Bus Lines of BC Limited, Lufthansa, Excalibur Security Services, and Hilton Metrotown.

“We are outraged that Lufthansa flight crews were in the bus that was encouraged by hotel security to run us over. It is a long-standing tradition to honour the picket lines of other unions, and solidarity doesn’t end at the border. We’re calling on Lufthansa crews to stop staying at this hotel immediately,” said Sergio Moyer, locked out Guest Services lead at Hilton Metrotown.

Hilton Metrotown locked out workers on April 16, 2021 after firing 97 staff. The employer has refused to commit to return long-term workers back to their jobs as business recovers. The British Columbia Federation of Labour representing 500,000 union members has issued a boycott of Hilton Vancouver Metrotown. Hotel workers are entering the 6th week of the lockout.

For additional information, please contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected], 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.

PRESS RELEASE: Hilton Metrotown Loses Arbitration Over Group Severance Exemption; Fired Hotel Workers Entitled to Greater Payouts

Vancouver, BC — Workers terminated from Hilton Metrotown are now entitled to receive greater severance payouts after the hotel lost a key arbitration that has implications for the broader hotel industry. Hilton Metrotown terminated 97 workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and sought an exemption to the Employment Standards Act to avoid larger severance payouts under group termination rules. The arbitrator has ruled against the hotel and found they are not exempt.

Hilton Metrotown terminated the workers, the majority of them women and racialized, in recent weeks before locking-out its remaining staff on April 16. The hotel applied for an exemption from severance provisions under section 65 of the Employment Standards Act, which allows for exemptions due to the “impossibility” of performing employment contracts due to unforeseen events and circumstances. The arbitrator rejected their appeal on the grounds that the hotel is still operating and employing people, which ultimately proves that it is not impossible for Hilton Metrotown to comply with their obligations to perform employment contracts.

The Union estimates the hotel may owe workers hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional severance pay. This decision has implications for the hospitality industry—and beyond—as other employers, like Pan Pacific Vancouver and Four Points Sheraton Vancouver Airport, have tried to use COVID-19 as an excuse to skirt their severance obligations to workers.

Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40: “Hilton Metrotown will not get away with using the pandemic to cheat workers out of their full severance payments. This decision sends a strong warning to other hotels: do not use COVID-19 as an excuse to avoid your severance liabilities. If you plan to terminate your long-term workers, be prepared to pay workers what they are owed.”

For additional information, please contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected], 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.

UNITE HERE Local 40 Statement regarding H.I.R. misinformation

H.I.R., the employer’s representative at Pacific Gateway Hotel, has provided statements to media misinforming them about bargaining.

In the month of April the Union offered 8 potential days for bargaining (April 14, 16, 20, 21, 22,  26, 27 & 30) with the Pacific Gateway. We received no reply to schedule any Pacific Gateway negotiations in April. The same was true in March 2021, the Union offered dates and there was no response on behalf of the hotel.

We committed to H.I.R. on May 5th that we are more than willing to negotiate in good faith and are ready to meet as soon as the employer has a new proposal for the Union that finds a path forward on recall for laid off workers and takes permanent concessions off the table.

Similarly at Hilton Metrotown, the Union is prepared to meet when the employer, also represented by H.I.R., has a new proposal regarding recall and concessions during a temporary crisis.

Locked Out Hilton Metrotown Workers to Stage Demonstration at YVR Airport: “Lufthansa Airline Crew, Don’t Cross Our Picket Line!”

Vancouver, B.C. — Today, a dozen locked out Hilton Metrotown workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, will leaflet Lufthansa airline crew members as they embark from the Vancouver International Airport to the hotel. Hilton Metrotown locked out workers last month after firing 97 staff. The employer has refused to commit to return long-term workers back to their jobs as business recovers. While large unions and Burnaby City Council have pledged not to patronize the hotel until it reinstates its workers, Lufthansa flight crew members continue to cross the picket line by staying at Hilton Metrotown. Hotel workers are entering the 5th week of the lockout.

WHAT: Locked out Hilton Metrotown Workers’ to Demonstrate at YVR Airport

WHERE: Vancouver International Airport, 3211 Grant McConachie Way (USA & International Arrivals baggage pickup area, Level 2) 

WHEN: Thursday, May 13, 3:00 p.m. 

VISUALS:     Hotel workers wearing masks standing 2 metres apart, holding colourful leaflets, banners, and signs.

Media availability with workers and UNITE HERE Local 40 representatives.

For additional information, please contact: Stephanie Fung, 604-928-7356, [email protected], 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: Striking Pacific Gateway Workers to Hold Car Caravan and Rally; Protest over Hotel Industry Attacks on Women, Racialized Workers

WHAT: On May 6, striking Pacific Gateway workers will stage a car caravan and rally Thursday afternoon to call attention to the hotel industry’s onslaught on women and immigrant workers. Community, labour groups, and allied hotel workers from area hotels will join the striking workers in the action.

WHO: Pacific Gateway hotel workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40.

WHEN: Thursday, May 6, 5:00PM Pacific Time

WHERE: Pacific Gateway Hotel, 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC

WHY: The decision to strike this week comes after hotel management terminated 42 workers over the past weekend, upping the total of fired workers to 103. Workers are escalating job action over Pacific Gateway’s refusal to return workers to their jobs when the COVID-19 pandemic passes. The federal quarantine hotel is threatening to fire more long-term staff to induce them to accept a two-tier wage structure with replacement workers earning minimum wage.

While Pacific Gateway workers are on the 4th day of their strike, today also marks the beginning of the 4th week of Hilton Metrotown workers being locked out. Hotel workers across the province are fighting back against the industry attacks on long-term staff, many of whom are women and people of colour already bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis.

VISUALS: Workers standing 2 metres apart, picketing with signs, banners, drums, pots, and pans. Car caravan with cars covered in signs and honking around Lysander Lane and Cessna Drive.

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

#BCUnequalWomen #TakeBackThursday

www.bcunequalwomen.org

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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.