Archive for category: News

Media Advisory: Tomorrow NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh Joins Striking Vancouver Hotel Workers to Celebrate Thanksgiving!

What: Hotel Workers Thanksgiving Lunch

When: Monday, October 14, 2019 at 12:30pm

Where: The Westin Bayshore, 1601 Bayshore Drive, Vancouver

 

Who: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers entering their fourth week on strike at four downtown Vancouver hotels (Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, Pinnacle Harbourfront), including hotel room attendants, cooks, front desk workers, and bellmen.

Note: Frontline UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike now for job security, a safe workplace, and wages that make one job enough to live in Vancouver 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: 1,200 Vancouver hotel workers are on strike for the first time in nearly 20 years, demanding that American hotel corporations like Marriott stop paying Canadian workers less than American workers. This Thanksgiving long weekend Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s NDP and MP for Burnaby South, joins the strikers as they hold a feast in celebration of their fight, proud to stand united for job security, safe workplaces and wages which would make one job enough to live in Vancouver. They work for companies like Marriott which made over $2.8 billion in Canada alone last year. While Marriott gets richer, workers at their hotels like the Westin Bayshore are overworked to the risk of injury, can lose their jobs if the owner decides to close and reopen a new restaurant, and need wages that keep up with the rising cost of living. Vancouver’s hotel workers are proud to stand up to Marriott and the other corporations, developers and investors who own and operate hotels in our city that have made a life in Vancouver unaffordable. Jagmeet Singh is the first federal party leader to show support for striking hotel workers in their fight for secure and safe jobs in Canada’s most expensive city.

 

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

Media Advisory: Happy Thanksgiving! No Thanks to Marriott, Strikers to Mobilize at Marriott, Demanding Equal Pay to American Workers

What: Hotel Striker Demonstrations at Marriott

When: Thursday, October 10, 2019 at 5pm

Where: JW Marriott Parq Vancouver hotel, 39 Smithe Street, Vancouver

Who: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers on strike, including hotel room attendants, cooks, front desk workers, and bellmen.

Note: Frontline UNITE HERE Local 40 strikers on strike now for job security, a safe workplace, and wages that make one job enough to live in Vancouver will be available for interview in person at the action or in advance by phone. To connect with strikers or union leadership in advance or at the action, contact Sharan. 

WHY: U.S.-based Marriott Corporation is the largest hotel company in the world. Marriott made over $2.8 billion in Canada alone last year. While Marriott gets richer, workers at their hotels like the Westin Bayshore are overworked to the risk of injury, can lose their jobs if the owner decides to close and reopen a new restaurant, and are being offered about half of what U.S. Marriott workers are getting.

We don’t need big U.S. corporations treating Canadians like they’re worth less! As the strike reaches the third week and Thanksgiving approaches, strikers will confront Marriott on Thursday, demanding that Canadian workers receive equity to all North American standards.

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

BCGEU supports historic Unite Here Local 40 strike with $3 million loan

Media Release—For Immediate Release

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

VANCOUVER—Today Stephanie Smith, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU), and a group of BCGEU members, joined Unite Here Local 40 members on the picket line at the Westin Bayshore to announce that the BCGEU—one of BC’s largest and fastest growing unions—is supporting the strike with a $3 million interest-free loan.

In September more than 1,200 Unite Here Local 40 members initiated the first strike at downtown Vancouver hotels in two decades. Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of job action after 14 months of bargaining with the Hyatt Regency, the Westin Bayshore and the Pinnacle Harbourfront and eight months of bargaining with the Rosewood Hotel Georgia failed to result in collective agreements that would address workplace safety, job security and fair compensation for hotel workers.

Since the beginning of the strike Unite Here Local 40’s high energy, high visibility picket lines have attracted support from the general public, attention from the media and complaints from hotel management about the noise and disruption caused by striking members. But the union’s contract demands remain unmet and their fight for a better future for all hotel workers continues.

With almost 80,000 members, the BCGEU is one of the largest and fastest growing unions in the province. The BCGEU’s provincial executive—which is the union’s governing body between policy conventions—voted unanimously in favour of making an interest-free loan in the amount of $3 million available for Unite Here Local 40 to access to support the hotel strike.

Quotes:

Stephanie Smith, President, BCGEU

“Strikes are powerful tools—they disrupt employers’ operations, they get the public engaged in workers’ rights and they build solidarity—but they cost money. This loan will help make sure that Unite Here Local 40 members can afford to stay out on strike as long as it takes to achieve collective agreements that give them the safety, stability and fair compensation they deserve.”

“The BCGEU, like other unions, has supported this strike from the beginning by joining the picket lines and by cancelling bookings and refusing to attend events at these four hotels. I’m proud to be here on behalf of 80,000 members of the BCGEU as the first union to offer financial support to Unite Here Local 40 as their fight for a better future continues. I know we won’t be the last.”

Zailda Chan, President, UNITE HERE Local 40

“We are overwhelmed by the level of support BCGEU is extending to our 1,200 striking hotel members.  This will send a strong message to the real estate developers and U.S. corporations who own and operate the hotels our members work for in this city.  We are determined to make change in the hospitality industry, and BCGEU’s support will only redouble our fight to improve the lives of Vancouver’s hotel workers.” 

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Contact:

Danielle Marchand, BCGEU

Cell: 778-968-4509

 

Sharan Pawa, Unite Here Local 40

Cell: 604-725-0053

 

 

 

 

 

Media Advisory: BREAKING! Three downtown Vancouver hotels – Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, Pinnacle Harbourfront – launch indefinite strike over need for safe and stable work

This morning, hundreds of hotel workers from the Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore and Pinnacle Harbourfront hotels, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, walked off the job in an open-ended strike. This escalation in the dispute follows a lunch hour strike held on Tuesday. After fourteen months of bargaining the hotels have failed to address significant outstanding issues related to workload, safety and job security. Room attendants, chefs, front desk agents and other staff of the high-end hotels are holding downtown strike actions for the first time in nearly two decades, united in their fight to change the industry into one which offers safe, stable and sustainable jobs.

The workers are demanding “One job should be enough!” in Vancouver’s booming hospitality industry which makes record profits year after year, while the cost of living continues to rise in Metro Vancouver. Many of the city’s hotel workers are struggling to provide for their families with precarious, on-call shifts caused by the systemic cutting of hours in these hotels. Safety remains a priority in this dispute, as many workers have stepped forward with complaints of sexual harassment faced on the job, and extreme under-staffing has led to unsafe and unsustainable workload levels. Vancouver’s downtown hotel workers stand together for better quality jobs and an improved quality of life.

Picket Actions

Date: Thursday, Sept 19, 2019

Time: 7:00 AM

Where: Hyatt Regency, Westin Bayshore, Pinnacle Harbourfront hotels

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

MEDIA ADVISORY: Fourth downtown hotel – Pinnacle Harbourfront – issues strike notice; Hyatt Workers to hold picket today

Yesterday, Pinnacle Harbourfront hotel became the latest downtown hotel to join Hotel Georgia, Hyatt and Westin in issuing strike notice. Workers at these prominent Vancouver hotels, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, have been without a collective agreement for up to 14 months and are prepared to strike in order to achieve better working conditions. Workers at the Hotel Georgia, Canada’s top-rated hotel, still face a lockout threat imposed by hotel management.

 

Employees of the hotels are demanding “One job should be enough!” in a booming tourism and hospitality industry which continues to make record profits year after year. Workers are fighting for sustainable jobs in the industry order to provide for their families in Metro Vancouver; this includes full-time hours, industry-setting wages, improved benefits and pension, workload protections and increased safety standards.

 

Workers will gather at the Hyatt Regency today at noon during their lunch hour for a picketing action, calling on their employers to bargain a fair contract. Today’s action will also launch the Union’s official boycott of the Hyatt. The workers at Hotel Georgia, Hyatt, Westin and Pinnacle hotels have yet to launch a strike action.

 

Picket Action and Hyatt Boycott Launch 

Date: Friday, Sept 13, 2019

Time: 12:00 – 12:30 PM 

Where: Hyatt Regency, 655 Burrard St, Vancouver

 

 

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