Archive for category: News

Press Release: Rosewood Hotel Georgia Strikers Celebrate Industry-Leading Contract, Vancouver hotel strike ends after 59 days

On November 18, UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia voted to ratify a historic new contract in Vancouver’s hospitality industry. The vote to approve this ground-breaking contract ends the picket line outside of the hotel. The 59-day strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia has been the longest hotel workers’ strike in Vancouver’s history.

Rosewood hotel workers secured a wage and benefit package with record wage increases, standard-setting wage increases for cooks, higher gratuities for banquet workers and other premiums for tipped staff, and important new safety measures. The new agreement funds expansion of health care for seasonal banquet workers and Reflections restaurant staff, amid other improvements.

“We have finally won the contract we deserve.  I am very proud of my co-workers for staying united and who struck, rain or shine, for eight weeks. I am also thankful to all the people who supported us and reminded us that we are not alone. We have shown this hotel and others in Vancouver that hotel workers will fight for respect and a fair workplace,” said May Tanjusay, a room attendant and union bargaining committee member from Rosewood Hotel Georgia.

The contract settlement marks the end of a series of hotel strikes in Vancouver that began in September. Rosewood workers received an outpouring of support from the community who supported strikers in weekly actions and from customers who refused to cross the picket line.

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [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 Hotel Workers Reach Tentative Agreement with Rosewood Hotel Georgia, UNITE HERE Local 40 to hold ratification vote today

Hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 40 reached a tentative agreement with Rosewood Hotel Georgia over the weekend. The agreement, if ratified, will bring their eight-week strike to an end. Workers will vote to ratify the contract until 5pm today.

 

“We have finally achieved the contract we deserve. I am very proud of my co-workers for staying united and thankful to all the people who supported us and reminded us that we are not alone. We’ve shown this hotel and others in Vancouver that hotel workers will fight for respect and a fair workplace,” said May Tanjusay, room attendant and union bargaining committee member from Rosewood Hotel Georgia.

 

Once ratified, the settlement will mark the end of a series of hotel strikes in Vancouver that began in September. Rosewood workers received an outpouring of support from the community who supported strikers in weekly actions and from customers who refused to cross the picket line. The workers are expected to return to work Wednesday morning following the ratification vote.

 

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [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.

BREAKING: Tentative agreement reached with Rosewood Hotel Georgia

We are happy to announce that a tentative agreement was reached between UNITE HERE Local 40 and the Rosewood Hotel Georgia! Picket lines are down, and we will be holding our contract ratification vote on Monday November 18th. More details to follow.

We want to say a special thank you to our amazing labour and community allies for your solidarity with Vancouver’s striking hotel workers! Together, we have shown the city what working people can achieve.

MEDIA ADVISORY: Rosewood Hotel Georgia strike enters eighth week as holiday season approaches, Strikers hold mass-action today before negotiations resume Friday

What: Hotel workers from Rosewood Hotel Georgia to hold demonstration to mark eighth week on strike.

When: Thursday, November 14, 2019, 5pm

Where: Rosewood Hotel Georgia, 801 West Georgia Street, Vancouver

Who: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel members on strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, joined in solidarity by hundreds of former striking hotel workers and the Vancouver community.

Note: Frontline UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike will be available for interview in person at the action or in advance by phone. To connect with strikers in advance or at the action, contact Sharan.

WHY: As the Hotel Georgia strike enters its eighth week – the longest of its kind in Vancouver’s history – negotiations with hotel management will resume this Friday on the heels of a cease and desist order by the BC Labour Relations Board (LRB) in which Rosewood management was found to have committed multiple breaches of provincial labour law. The LRB issued a cease and desist order against the hotel on October 28.

Strikers recently travelled to Silicon Valley and Hong Kong to lead actions at other Rosewood Hotel locations. International unions and trade federations from around the globe, from California to Myanmar, have recently led delegations in support of the strikers.

B.C.’s performers union, UBCP/ACTRA, and US-based entertainment union SAG-AFTRA have issued notices to performers and production managers to respect the picket line at Rosewood Hotel Georgia and to immediately remove business from the hotel until a settlement is reached.

In September, over 1,200 Vancouver hotel workers went on strike at four high-end hotels in Canada’s most profitable hotel industry. Last month, three of the four hotels agreed to ground-breaking new contracts. Two hundred Rosewood Hotel Georgia workers remain on strike for a contract which matches the five-star service they provide to clientele of this iconic Vancouver hotel. In addition to the demand for fair wages and stable jobs, the hotel has been under scrutiny over its handling of sexual harassment concerns in recent months.

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [email protected]

Press Release: Vancouver Hotel Strikers Celebrate Historic Raises of up to 25% at Multiple Downtown Hotels, Strike Continues at Hotel Georgia

Vancouver – As of 6:00pm on October 16, 2019, UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike at the Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, and Pinnacle Harbourfront voted to ratify a historic new contract for those properties as well as at the Four Seasons, with industry leading gains including raises of up to 25%. In addition, new standards around workplace safety, sexual harassment, and job security have been pioneered in the new contracts.

 

The ratification of these contracts ends a 28 day strike of three major downtown Vancouver properties, yet the strike continues at Hotel Georgia. In addition to establishing industry transforming wage standards, the new contracts include innovative sexual harassment protections, workload reductions, and improvements in benefits and job security for restaurant and kitchen staff. The vote to approve this new contract ends the picket lines outside and boycotts of Hyatt, Westin and Pinnacle hotels, with workers at these properties proudly returning to work today.

 

“Our members are key to the success of these luxury hotels, and they chose the sacrifice of striking in order to win improved working conditions, respect and a real future in this industry,” said Zailda Chan, President of UNITE HERE Local 40. “This is the first hotel strike in Vancouver in nearly two decades , and I’m deeply moved by the courage and vision of our members in taking on this fight. With this contract we have achieved a new standard in the hospitality industry which will improve the lives of not only our own members and their families, but the lives of all hotel workers in Vancouver. This strike has sent a strong message to the industry, not to underestimate the power of working people. We will now turn the momentum of this historic victory to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, where our strikers have been without a contract for ten months and management has failed to offer acceptable working conditions, wages, or security.”

 

“Our new contract is proof to me that Vancouver is our city!” said Nassa Chantacheevakul, banquet server at Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel. “As a millennial worker in Metro Vancouver, this contract will make the difference for me between struggling to make rent each month to being able to truly build a life here. I’m proud of what my coworkers and I won – we picketed, we rallied, we made ourselves heard, and we took care of each other during the 28 days of this strike. Not a single Vancouver hotel worker crossed the picket lines, and we proved what can be achieved in a union! We won raises higher than our bosses said we ever could. I look forward to going back to work and back to serving my guests!”

 

Almost two hundred hotel workers remain on strike at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. UNITE HERE Local 40 calls on Hotel Georgia to settle this strike.

 

Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-725-0053, [email protected]