Archive for category: News

PRESS RELEASE: Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Workers Launch Job Action; Unequal Women Stand Up to Protect Jobs

For Immediate Release
February 19, 2021

Vancouver, BC – Hilton Metrotown workers have initiated a partial strike action over job security. This comes on the heels of a round of permanent layoffs initiated by the Hilton to significantly cut staffing. The terminations affect long serving immigrant workers, many of them women who have been disproportionately impacted by the economic repercussions of the pandemic. The “she-cession” hit women first and hardest with greater job losses and underemployment in sectors decimated by the pandemic, like hospitality.

This week, the Hilton initiated a second round of unlawful permanent layoffs after receiving notice of the job action.  UNITE HERE Local 40, which represents the workers, is pursuing legal steps to fight the unjust terminations.

Hilton Metrotown has refused to extend workers’ right to return to their jobs beyond 12 months despite the extenuating circumstances of a major public health crisis. Nearly 40 workers have been permanently terminated since last month; the hotel has made clear its plans to eliminate much of the staff, including women who have worked at the Hilton Metrotown for two decades.

Women who clean, cater to and care for Hilton guests are leading the fight to save hotel jobs from an industry intent on using the pandemic to slash and burn them.

“The hotel wants to get rid of everyone and hire new workers to replace us. Women who I have worked alongside for years are being terminated. That isn’t right. I’m worried about my job too.  I’m 57 years old and have a young niece to support.  Who will offer me a job at my age if I have to start all over again?  Women like me made our hotel successful. That’s why we are leading the fight to protect our jobs,” said Gemma De la Torre, Hilton Metrotown room attendant.

“Vancouver’s tourism industry was built on the backs of women. Shame on the hotel industry for its pandemic profiteering. We say ‘No’ to unequal women in the hotel industry, because that will hurt the economic recovery for all of us,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40.

The Union is currently in negotiations with Hilton Metrotown.

Media 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.

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: Frontline LNG Janitors Reach Historic Union Contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 17, 2021

3-year deal includes health and safety protections, and First Nations hiring commitments secured

Kitimat, BC — Industrial janitors at the LNG Canada Kitimat site, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40,  have ratified a standard-setting union contract with Gitxaala Horizon North Services LP. The agreement includes a commitment to hire from First Nations and local communities, dramatically improved health care benefits, health and safety protections, along with significant wage increases.

The agreement with Gitxaala Horizon North Services LP covers industrial janitors who sanitize and clean buildings on the $40 billion LNG Canada pipeline project. The union bargaining committee achieved their first 3-year collective agreement after workers formed a union last summer and engaged in months of tough bargaining during the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases have risen in northern BC and the provincial government has limited worksite and camp staffing levels, this new contract provides job security and improved working conditions for camp workers in Kitimat.  

Indigenous workers led their co-workers to form the union and win their first contract. Now, the company has agreed to commit to hiring First Nations people as 30 percent of its workforce.

“Thanks to Gitxaala Horizon North Services LP for bargaining with us through COVID-19. I’m proud that we were able to win this contract and I can better support my family’s needs as the living costs in Prince Rupert have just skyrocketed. The extra dollars will make a huge difference. We reached our goal that we set out to achieve and in the end we won better wages and a fairer workplace for everybody,” said Jaime Moraes, janitor and member of the Tsimshian Nation. 

The contract sets a groundbreaking standard in wages and travel for LNG camp workers. UNITE HERE Local 40 is the fastest growing camp workers’ union in northern BC and now represents over 350 camp workers in Kitimat.

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.

BREAKING: Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel Workers Issue 72-hour Strike Notice

For Immediate Release

February 12, 2021

Unequal women prepare to strike over mass firings

Vancouver – Today, Hilton Vancouver Metrotown hotel workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike with 97% in support.  UNITE HERE Local 40 which represents the Hilton issued the 72-hour strike late this afternoon.

This move comes after Hilton Metrotown began mass firings of long-term workers last week with more expected in coming weeks. Hilton Metrotown has refused to recall their staff as the industry recovers. The firings will disproportionately hit women of colour, who have long served this hotel.

More details to be announced.

 

Media Contacts: 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, construction camps, and airport industries throughout British Columbia. Learn more at UniteHereLocal40.org.

 

PRESS RELEASE: Pan Pacific Hotel Workers Vote to Join UNITE HERE Local 40

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Unequal women leading fight to save their hotel jobs as industry recovers

Vancouver, BC — Workers from the luxury Pan Pacific Hotel at Vancouver Convention Centre East have voted strongly in favour of joining UNITE HERE Local 40.  Nearly 75% of workers voted to form a union as the hotel attempts to shed much of its long-term staff – many of them women of colour who have served the hotel for decades. This vote sends a clear message that laid-off and fired working women in B.C.’s hotel industry are standing up to fight for their jobs in the midst of the pandemic.

The unionization effort comes after management fired groups of long-term workers without cause or advance notice. Last month, a class action lawsuit was filed against the hotel on behalf of workers terminated during the pandemic. The suit alleges the hotel misled and wrongfully fired workers, cheating them out of full severance pay.  Remaining workers were asked to sign an agreement to waive their severance rights and give up their regular full-time status in exchange for a $250 bonus and health benefits. Some of them were fired anyway.

Working with Local 40, Pan Pacific workers will fight for recall protections and a first contract.

“I’m so proud of Pan Pacific workers who voted for the union and joined Local 40. We are excited to join a union of hotel workers who are determined to get through this pandemic together. This vote shows that women in the hotel industry are standing up and fighting for better protection, wages, and benefits, and most importantly — fighting to save our careers,” said Jerty Gaa, a public area attendant fighting to be recalled to her job of eleven years.

Over 60% of workers in the hotel industry are women – many of them immigrants, visible minorities and Indigenous.  At the Pan Pacific, they have cleaned rooms, cooked meals, and served guests for decades but are treated as if they were disposable. The economic impact of COVID-19 on hotel workers, particularly women, is turning back the clock to an earlier era.

“This is the 21st century.  We want an end to the hotel industry’s 19th century treatment of women.  The women leading the fight at the Pan Pacific Vancouver refuse to be quiet while mass firings are used to strip away gains made by the very women who are the backbone of this industry,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40.

The high-end hotel is owned by an affiliate of Westmont Hospitality Group. Westmont is one of the world’s largest privately held hospitality companies.

 

Media Contacts: 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.

PRESS RELEASE: Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel Over Reckless Mass Terminations of Long-Term Workers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2021

Vancouver, BC — Today, UNITE HERE Local 40 announced that a class action lawsuit has been filed against the Pan Pacific Vancouver on behalf of workers wrongfully terminated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The suit, which was filed on behalf of current and former hourly employees, alleges the hotel misled workers, wrongfully terminated them without cause or notice, and were cheated out of pay owed to them for their years of service. The case was filed by a long-term employee who had worked at the hotel for 24 years until he was unexpectedly terminated along with dozens of his co-workers in August.

Early in the pandemic, hotel management concocted a plan to drastically reduce its staff from 450 workers to 80 and to dismiss the rest.  Instead of informing workers of their plans, the company sent workers repeated messages delivering false hope suggesting they intended to bring workers back.

Pan Pacific began terminating staff in batches, without cause or advance notice. The suit alleges that the hotel did this to avoid group termination provisions in the Employment Standards Act that requires advance notice and would trigger larger payouts to workers.

Between firings, the hotel offered workers $250 to sign a contract taking away their regular full-time status to become casual, on-call workers and waive their severance rights. Those who refused to sign were among those fired.

“The Pan Pacific’s actions were dishonest, self-serving, and reprehensible. Rather than keep their workforce intact, the hotel failed to communicate its termination plan to workers and strung them along with no regard for their future at a time when unemployment in the hotel sector has reached Depression-era levels. No hotel should be allowed to get away with this, which is why Pan Pacific workers are fighting back for what they deserve,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40.

Many of the affected Pan Pacific workers are immigrants and women with families who have served the hotel for more than 20 or even 30 years. Had the hotel properly notified workers of its plans to drastically reduce its workforce, this class of workers could have been entitled to receive significant payouts. If successful, workers could be owed as much as $3 million.

The high-end Pan Pacific Vancouver, located at Canada Place, is owned by an affiliate of Westmont Hospitality Group. Westmont is one of the world’s largest privately held hospitality companies with over 500 hotels worldwide.

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