MEDIA ADVISORY FOR NATIONAL TELEPRESS CONFERENCE for Thursday, July 16 (9amPT/Noon ET)

Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 12pET/9aPT
Contact: Meghan Cohorst, [email protected], 239-503-1533

Click here to register in advance

Hospitality workers union UNITE HERE Canada to detail state of Canadian hospitality industry, call for implementation of essential recommendations for a safe and successful return to work

UNITE HERE Canada will host a video press conference on state of Canadian hospitality and steps necessary to ensure a safe and successful return to work. Union members and leadership will share their personal experiences, concerns about upcoming changes to CEWS and CERB, and recommendations, including a perspective on lessons to be learned from reopening experience in the U.S.

WHEN: Thursday, July 16 at 12:00pm ET / 9:00am PT

WHERE:  Register for access information here:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GMcMjMhIRbmOwtBjdJ8aVQ

WHO: 

  • UNITE HERE members working in the hotel industry in British Columbia and Ontario
  • Ian Robb, UNITE HERE Canadian Director
  • Nia Winston, UNITE HERE Local 24 President, Detroit, MI USA

WHY:  Canadian hospitality workers—including more than 18,000 represented by the six UNITE HERE locals in British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta —were among the first and hardest hit by the economic impact of COVID-19. Over 90% of hospitality workers in the country’s hotels, airports, stadiums, universities, schools, and remote resource camps have been laid off since March.

Analysts predict that the industry may not fully recover until Summer 2022, leading to fewer available jobs, extended periods of unemployment, and uncertainty for tens of thousands of Canadian workers and their families. Putting workers at the center of the recovery is key for preventing a second wave of COVID-19 in Canada and for restoring confidence in their return to work.

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UNITE HERE is a labour union that represents over 300,000 members working in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries in North America. UNITE HERE represents over 18,000 hotel and hospitality workers across six locals in Canada.

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Meghan Cohorst

UNITE HERE

239-503-1533

[email protected]

 

Statement by Zailda Chan, UNITE HERE Local 40 President, regarding B.C.’s extension of temporary COVID-19 layoff provisions

“We are incredibly disappointed by the Government’s decision today to extend temporary layoffs and delay severance to help the business community without any protections for workers.  The government had to put 50,000 hotel workers out of work, but with no legal rights to get their jobs back.  Hotel workers are already being permanently terminated as a result of this pandemic.  A wave of terminations may come in September. This decision falls far short of what laid-off workers need to stay connected to their jobs.  The B.C. government needs to act and protect workers – not just businesses.”

Press Release: Laid-off Hospitality Demonstrate, Ask Government – Where is Our Right to Return to Work?

For Immediate Release
June 25, 2020

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

VANCOUVER – As the province launched Phase 3 of its restart plan, laid-off hospitality workers demonstrated today outside the Rosewood Hotel Georgia.  Hotel workers are urgently calling on the provincial government to protect those on the verge of losing their jobs due to the pandemic.  The Government had to put 50,000 hotel workers out of work, but with no legal right to get their jobs back.  While the B.C. legislature debates temporary layoff rules this week, thousands of the province’s laid-off hotel workers could face permanent job loss if employers use the pandemic as an excuse to replace them.

Rosewood Hotel Georgia workers protested alongside other area hotel workers who stand to lose the right to keep their jobs unless the government takes action.  With reports that the hotel industry may not recover until 2021 or 2022, hotel workers throughout the province want the government to guarantee they will have the right to return to work as the industry recovers.

Unlike the business-backed proposal to extend temporary layoff and delay severance, UNITE HERE Local 40 is urging the province to legislate protection for workers laid-off due to the pandemic so that they cannot be terminated.  The current rules around temporary layoff do not prevent workers from being fired due to the pandemic.  As the hard-hit hospitality sector begins the long road to recovery, workers spoke at a press conference outside the hotel about what they stand to lose.

“Our contribution to B.C.’s hotel industry is significant. I hope the province does not let workers with years of experience go to the wayside.  The provincial government should make sure that hotel workers who have built this industry are guaranteed the right to get our jobs back as the industry recovers,” said James Milling, a doorman who has worked at Rosewood Hotel Georgia for nine years.

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: Laid-off Workers Hold Caravan, Call for Government Action on Layoff Protection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2020

Vancouver, BC — On Wednesday, hundreds of laid-off hospitality workers in a caravan of cars honking horns and chanting on foot participated in a demonstration urging provincially and federally elected leaders to ensure employers rehire, not replace, laid-off workers as the economy recovers. With workers facing long-term layoffs in the sector, they risk losing their jobs due to the pandemic. Hotel housekeepers, servers, cooks and other members of UNITE HERE Local 40 led the caravan through the heart of downtown Vancouver.

Over 90% of B.C.’s hospitality workers were laid-off in March due to COVID-19. With travel restrictions and a cancelled convention and cruise season, it could be summer 2021 or later before the hospitality industry recovers. Workers laid-off from hotels like Holiday Inn Downtown, Blue Horizon and high-end hotels like The Wedgewood and Rosewood Hotel Georgia could be terminated if they are not called back to work this summer.  Workers across the province face the same predicament, while non-union workers could find themselves permanently replaced even sooner.

CERB will expire in July and too few hospitality employers are participating in the government’s wage subsidy program. As businesses begin to reopen, unemployed workers are calling on their political leaders to make sure they are not left behind.

“We need Premier Horgan and Prime Minister Trudeau to help us get our jobs back and make sure employers don’t use the pandemic to replace us or force us to start over from scratch,” said Darcy Dawson, a laid-off server at the restaurant in Holiday Inn & Suites Downtown Vancouver. “This is my first job where I’ve had better job security and medical and dental benefits. Will all that go to the wayside because of COVID-19?” asked Dawson.

“Holiday Inn Downtown, Blue Horizon Hotel, Wedgewood, Rosewood Hotel Georgia and other unionized workers from hotels across the province could lose their jobs if they are not called back to work by the end of September.  Worse, non-union laid off workers could be replaced tomorrow.  We know the industry will eventually recover.  And when it does, laid-off workers should be first in line to get their jobs back,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40.

According to a recent poll of British Columbians commissioned by the union, 92% of those surveyed were in broad political support of requiring companies to rehire their workers before replacing them. The same poll found a similarly high level of support for such a requirement where employers receive government relief.

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

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: Laid-off Hospitality Workers to Participate in Car Caravan in Vancouver, Call on Government to Help Bring Workers Back to Their Jobs

Vancouver—Hospitality workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 40, will participate in a car caravan demonstration calling on provincially and federally elected leaders to ensure employers rehire—not replace—laid-off workers as the economy recovers. Over 90% of workers in B.C.’s hospitality industry are laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As hotels and other hospitality businesses begin to reopen, workers will call for measures that require employers to rehire laid-off workers before replacing them.

WHO: Hospitality workers joined by community groups and labour unions from across the Lower Mainland.

WHERE: Press Conference at Hyatt Regency Vancouver, 655 Burrard, prior to caravan. (Please note change of location).

WHEN: Wednesday, June 3, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT

  • 11:45 a.m. PT: Press Conference at Hyatt
  • 12:15 p.m. PT: Vehicles to proceed southward along Burrard Street
  • 1:00 p.m. PT: Car caravan to end

VISUALS: Workers and community allies wearing masks and gloves standing 6 feet apart, chanting and speaking with colourful banners, signs, and bullhorns, while dozens of cars with signs and flags honk and blare loud music along Burrard Street.

Media availability with UNITE HERE Local 40 President Zailda Chan and hospitality workers during press conference.

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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.