Richmond, BC – Striking hotel workers at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel will be ringing in 2024 with a protest over a New Year’s Eve event planned at the hotel’s restaurant, The Deck. Strikers have urged party organizers not to cross their picket line and requested they move their event elsewhere. The party is being co-organized by Abhi Prasad, Assistant to the Fijian Honourary Consul of Canada and head of Surrey-based Metropolitan Security, with Sparq Productions.
Workers have been on strike at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel for over two years – since hotel management terminated 143 workers, or 70% of their staff, during the pandemic. This impacted nearly all the hotel’s housekeepers and The Deck staff. Most of the impacted workers are women; many are from the South Asian community and worked at the hotel complex for decades. It is currently the longest hotel strike in Canada.
Protest Details
When: New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2023
Where: The Deck at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel, 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC. (The Deck is behind the hotel, on the marina side.)
Time: 6PM
Visuals: Hotel workers chanting and marching with signs and noisemakers.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2023-12-29 11:13:562023-12-29 11:13:56Media Advisory: “Will representatives of the Fijiian Honourary Consul of Canada be crossing our picket line?” Strikers to hold New Year’s Eve Protest at The Deck at Radisson Blu
Vancouver, BC — South Asian hotel workers are urging Sparq Productions, the Calgary-based Bollywood choreography and entertainment provider, not to cross their picket line this New Year’s Eve. Sparq Productions is slated to hold a New Year’s Eve event at The Deck at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport where workers are currently on strike.
In a letter to Sparq Productions, striking workers call on event organizers to move their event to another venue to avoid crossing a picket line at the Vancouver area hotel. The workers have been on strike at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel since hotel management terminated 143 workers, or 70% of their staff, during the pandemic. Most of the impacted workers are women; many are from the South Asian community and worked at the hotel complex for decades. It is currently the longest hotel strike in Canada.
“Why are the owners of Sparq Productions disrespecting South Asian women by doing business with The Deck at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport? Some of my co-workers worked at this hotel for over 40 years before being unjustly terminated; that’s one of the reasons why we made the difficult decision to strike. Why is a dance party more important than supporting those of us within the community?” said Pardeep Thandi, a striking room attendant who has worked at the hotel for over 28 years.
The pair behind Sparq Productions, Tania Lemos and Vishal Malpuria, have ignored calls to move their event to another venue. Sparq’s owners won the “South Asian Inspiration Award” last year, yet their plan to hold an event across picket lines is hypocritical to uplifting the South Asian community.
One of the affected workers filed a human rights complaint against the hotel employer (formerly named Pacific Gateway) on behalf of 90 women over sex and racial discrimination. The complaint alleges that hotel management’s terminations disproportionately impacted women and women of colour. The complaint was filed with the BC Human Rights Tribunal and is pending.
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport is majority owned by PHI Hotel Group, which, until recently, managed the Westin Calgary Airport hotel. PHI Hotel Group and its owner are being sued by affiliates of Siksika Resource Development Ltd, the economic development arm of the Siksika Nation, for alleged fraud and misappropriation of $16 million in funds. The plaintiffs allege that the owner of PHI Hotel Group, which was responsible for overseeing Westin Calgary Airport when it was used as a federal quarantine hotel, diverted millions received from the government and funneled the money to entities related to PHI Hotel Group. The lawsuit is ongoing.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2023-12-18 09:39:392023-12-18 09:39:39Press Release: Calgary-based Bollywood choreographers urged to respect striking workers’ picket line on New Year’s Eve
Mass rally to take place Monday 2PM at SFU Burnaby Campus, Dining Commons
On Monday, December 11, dining workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, and members of the Simon Fraser University (SFU) community will stand together to protest the university’s failure to pay dining workers a living wage.
As SFU administrators collect annual bonuses on top of their six-figure salaries, much of the dining staff earns less than $20 per hour. SFU has promised to pay a living wage to contracted dining workers, even budgeting $1.6 million for the increase. Yet, workers – many of them racialized women – have not seen a dime. Dining staff are not earning nearly enough to afford the cost of living in Metro Vancouver. The estimated living wage for a bare bones budget rose to $25.68 last month.
Many cafeteria workers only work nine months out of the year, which makes the call for living wages even more urgent. Family-supporting wages and year-round work could provide greater stability for SFU dining workers.
Contract workers are overworked and continue to be denied a living wage — more than a year after SFU said it would become a Living Wage Employer. The university treats contracted workers like they are second-class by denying them access to library services, barring their kids from on-campus daycares, and excluding their spouses and children from tuition discounts provided to faculty members.
Meanwhile, food and cleaning workers at UVic and UBC, who are university employees, are spared from holiday layoffs, while enjoying better pay and benefits than their SFU counterparts.
On Monday, students, faculty, professors, union leaders and community members will stand with contract workers to remind the SFU Administration that they cannot continue to ignore the workers who make the university work every day.
WHAT: Mass Protest at SFU Burnaby Campus
WHEN: Monday, December 11th at 2:00PM
WHO: SFU contracted dining staff joined by students, faculty, professors, union leaders and community members
WHERE: SFU Burnaby Campus, Dining Commons (8888 University Dr W, Burnaby)
VISUALS: Workers chanting, marching, and speaking with colourful signs and bullhorns
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2023-12-08 11:28:412023-12-08 11:30:06Media Advisory – “SFU: Where is the money?” SFU workers to protest over living wage promises
Special Investigating Officer will randomly inspect hotel under consent order
Richmond, BC — The BC Labour Relations Board has issued a pair of consent orders declaring Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport breached the Labour Code again during a protracted strike by members of UNITE HERE Local 40. Under the orders, the employer admitted to over a dozen breaches of the Code. This follows an earlier consent order issued by the Board in July in which the employer admitted to using impermissible replacement workers during the strike.
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel (formerly Pacific Gateway) re-opened to the public this summer despite an ongoing labour dispute and only a skeleton crew to operate the hotel. Under the consent award granted on September 19, the employer, an affiliate of PHI Hotel Group, admitted to violating the law when it used contractors and other impermissible workers to conduct fire rounds, move and assemble furniture and setup guest rooms to prepare the hotel for customers, undertake repairs, and clean rooms, floor hallways, and The Deck following renovations.
Under the second consent award issued September 21, the Board declared hotel management breached the Labour Code when they assigned certain front desk duties to impermissible workers and in greater portion than would have been assigned before the strike; when the hotel used new managers to illegally backfill for senior managers so they could perform bargaining unit work; and continued to use third parties to perform routine maintenance tasks.
In a new development, the Board ordered a Special Investigating Officer to randomly inspect the hotel and investigate the work being performed there. The Board ordered the employer to cease and desist from using impermissible replacement workers and contractors to perform union work at the hotel, or to assign a greater proportion of struck work to managers than before the strike, and ordered the hotel to provide the Union with advance notice of any contractor operating in rooms available for rental, and to disclose which tasks are to be performed and an explanation of why it is needed.
In BC, it is illegal for employers to hire replacement workers during a strike.
Workers at the property have been on strike for over two years. They struck after the employer terminated 143 long-term workers – mostly women – during the pandemic and demanded drastic concessions from remaining workers. Strikers have picketed the hotel daily since May 3, 2021
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport is operated by PHI Hotel Group and majority owned by Sukhminder Rai. Mr. Rai and 10 of his affiliated companies are currently under investigation for allegations of fraud and misappropriation of $16 million of public funds. His partners in three Alberta hotels have filed a lawsuit against Mr. Rai; those hotels were put into receivership last month.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2023-09-27 13:04:592023-09-27 13:04:59Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport Admits to Multiple Breaches of Anti-Scab Law
Threat of strike poses risk of disruption to Coastal GasLink pipeline project
British Columbia – Today, hospitality workers at Horizon North Parsnip Lodge near Prince George delivered 72-hour strike notice to management. The 150 workers at the Lodge – represented by UNITE HERE Local 40 – voted 95% in favour of strike action on September 9. Parsnip Lodge, which houses up to 1,200 Coastal GasLink pipeline workers, is expected to close permanently this year. As alternate mass accommodations for workers in the region are not available, a strike at the property would disrupt the pipeline project.
Parsnip Lodge hospitality workers are asking the employer, Horizon North, to respect their hard work by providing, among other requests, three months of severance pay per year of service. The Lodge opened and unionized with UNITE HERE Local 40 in 2020. Horizon North operates Parsnip Lodge on behalf of Coastal GasLink.
UNITE HERE Local 40 also represents camp hospitality workers at Cedar Valley Lodge and Crossroads Lodge in Kitimat. Earlier this year, workers at the two camp sites voted in favour of new collective agreements, averting strike actions. The new contacts included substantial pay increases and improved workload protections.
Mediation between the Union and the employer begins today.
Media Advisory: “Will representatives of the Fijiian Honourary Consul of Canada be crossing our picket line?” Strikers to hold New Year’s Eve Protest at The Deck at Radisson Blu
Richmond, BC – Striking hotel workers at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel will be ringing in 2024 with a protest over a New Year’s Eve event planned at the hotel’s restaurant, The Deck. Strikers have urged party organizers not to cross their picket line and requested they move their event elsewhere. The party is being co-organized by Abhi Prasad, Assistant to the Fijian Honourary Consul of Canada and head of Surrey-based Metropolitan Security, with Sparq Productions.
Workers have been on strike at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel for over two years – since hotel management terminated 143 workers, or 70% of their staff, during the pandemic. This impacted nearly all the hotel’s housekeepers and The Deck staff. Most of the impacted workers are women; many are from the South Asian community and worked at the hotel complex for decades. It is currently the longest hotel strike in Canada.
Protest Details
When: New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2023
Where: The Deck at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel, 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC. (The Deck is behind the hotel, on the marina side.)
Time: 6PM
Visuals: Hotel workers chanting and marching with signs and noisemakers.
Media Contact: Sharan Pawa, [email protected], 604-710-1693
Press Release: Calgary-based Bollywood choreographers urged to respect striking workers’ picket line on New Year’s Eve
Vancouver, BC — South Asian hotel workers are urging Sparq Productions, the Calgary-based Bollywood choreography and entertainment provider, not to cross their picket line this New Year’s Eve. Sparq Productions is slated to hold a New Year’s Eve event at The Deck at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport where workers are currently on strike.
In a letter to Sparq Productions, striking workers call on event organizers to move their event to another venue to avoid crossing a picket line at the Vancouver area hotel. The workers have been on strike at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel since hotel management terminated 143 workers, or 70% of their staff, during the pandemic. Most of the impacted workers are women; many are from the South Asian community and worked at the hotel complex for decades. It is currently the longest hotel strike in Canada.
“Why are the owners of Sparq Productions disrespecting South Asian women by doing business with The Deck at Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport? Some of my co-workers worked at this hotel for over 40 years before being unjustly terminated; that’s one of the reasons why we made the difficult decision to strike. Why is a dance party more important than supporting those of us within the community?” said Pardeep Thandi, a striking room attendant who has worked at the hotel for over 28 years.
The pair behind Sparq Productions, Tania Lemos and Vishal Malpuria, have ignored calls to move their event to another venue. Sparq’s owners won the “South Asian Inspiration Award” last year, yet their plan to hold an event across picket lines is hypocritical to uplifting the South Asian community.
One of the affected workers filed a human rights complaint against the hotel employer (formerly named Pacific Gateway) on behalf of 90 women over sex and racial discrimination. The complaint alleges that hotel management’s terminations disproportionately impacted women and women of colour. The complaint was filed with the BC Human Rights Tribunal and is pending.
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport is majority owned by PHI Hotel Group, which, until recently, managed the Westin Calgary Airport hotel. PHI Hotel Group and its owner are being sued by affiliates of Siksika Resource Development Ltd, the economic development arm of the Siksika Nation, for alleged fraud and misappropriation of $16 million in funds. The plaintiffs allege that the owner of PHI Hotel Group, which was responsible for overseeing Westin Calgary Airport when it was used as a federal quarantine hotel, diverted millions received from the government and funneled the money to entities related to PHI Hotel Group. The lawsuit is ongoing.
Media Contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-710-1693, [email protected]
Media Advisory – “SFU: Where is the money?” SFU workers to protest over living wage promises
Mass rally to take place Monday 2PM at SFU Burnaby Campus, Dining Commons
On Monday, December 11, dining workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, and members of the Simon Fraser University (SFU) community will stand together to protest the university’s failure to pay dining workers a living wage.
As SFU administrators collect annual bonuses on top of their six-figure salaries, much of the dining staff earns less than $20 per hour. SFU has promised to pay a living wage to contracted dining workers, even budgeting $1.6 million for the increase. Yet, workers – many of them racialized women – have not seen a dime. Dining staff are not earning nearly enough to afford the cost of living in Metro Vancouver. The estimated living wage for a bare bones budget rose to $25.68 last month.
Many cafeteria workers only work nine months out of the year, which makes the call for living wages even more urgent. Family-supporting wages and year-round work could provide greater stability for SFU dining workers.
Contract workers are overworked and continue to be denied a living wage — more than a year after SFU said it would become a Living Wage Employer. The university treats contracted workers like they are second-class by denying them access to library services, barring their kids from on-campus daycares, and excluding their spouses and children from tuition discounts provided to faculty members.
Meanwhile, food and cleaning workers at UVic and UBC, who are university employees, are spared from holiday layoffs, while enjoying better pay and benefits than their SFU counterparts.
On Monday, students, faculty, professors, union leaders and community members will stand with contract workers to remind the SFU Administration that they cannot continue to ignore the workers who make the university work every day.
WHAT: Mass Protest at SFU Burnaby Campus
WHEN: Monday, December 11th at 2:00PM
WHO: SFU contracted dining staff joined by students, faculty, professors, union leaders and community members
WHERE: SFU Burnaby Campus, Dining Commons (8888 University Dr W, Burnaby)
VISUALS: Workers chanting, marching, and speaking with colourful signs and bullhorns
Media Contact: Kai Sharpe, 604-889-6960, [email protected]
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport Admits to Multiple Breaches of Anti-Scab Law
Special Investigating Officer will randomly inspect hotel under consent order
Richmond, BC — The BC Labour Relations Board has issued a pair of consent orders declaring Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport breached the Labour Code again during a protracted strike by members of UNITE HERE Local 40. Under the orders, the employer admitted to over a dozen breaches of the Code. This follows an earlier consent order issued by the Board in July in which the employer admitted to using impermissible replacement workers during the strike.
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport hotel (formerly Pacific Gateway) re-opened to the public this summer despite an ongoing labour dispute and only a skeleton crew to operate the hotel. Under the consent award granted on September 19, the employer, an affiliate of PHI Hotel Group, admitted to violating the law when it used contractors and other impermissible workers to conduct fire rounds, move and assemble furniture and setup guest rooms to prepare the hotel for customers, undertake repairs, and clean rooms, floor hallways, and The Deck following renovations.
Under the second consent award issued September 21, the Board declared hotel management breached the Labour Code when they assigned certain front desk duties to impermissible workers and in greater portion than would have been assigned before the strike; when the hotel used new managers to illegally backfill for senior managers so they could perform bargaining unit work; and continued to use third parties to perform routine maintenance tasks.
In a new development, the Board ordered a Special Investigating Officer to randomly inspect the hotel and investigate the work being performed there. The Board ordered the employer to cease and desist from using impermissible replacement workers and contractors to perform union work at the hotel, or to assign a greater proportion of struck work to managers than before the strike, and ordered the hotel to provide the Union with advance notice of any contractor operating in rooms available for rental, and to disclose which tasks are to be performed and an explanation of why it is needed.
In BC, it is illegal for employers to hire replacement workers during a strike.
Workers at the property have been on strike for over two years. They struck after the employer terminated 143 long-term workers – mostly women – during the pandemic and demanded drastic concessions from remaining workers. Strikers have picketed the hotel daily since May 3, 2021
Radisson Blu Vancouver Airport is operated by PHI Hotel Group and majority owned by Sukhminder Rai. Mr. Rai and 10 of his affiliated companies are currently under investigation for allegations of fraud and misappropriation of $16 million of public funds. His partners in three Alberta hotels have filed a lawsuit against Mr. Rai; those hotels were put into receivership last month.
Media contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-710-1693, [email protected]
BREAKING: Hospitality Workers at Parsnip Lodge Serve Strike Notice
Threat of strike poses risk of disruption to Coastal GasLink pipeline project
British Columbia – Today, hospitality workers at Horizon North Parsnip Lodge near Prince George delivered 72-hour strike notice to management. The 150 workers at the Lodge – represented by UNITE HERE Local 40 – voted 95% in favour of strike action on September 9. Parsnip Lodge, which houses up to 1,200 Coastal GasLink pipeline workers, is expected to close permanently this year. As alternate mass accommodations for workers in the region are not available, a strike at the property would disrupt the pipeline project.
Parsnip Lodge hospitality workers are asking the employer, Horizon North, to respect their hard work by providing, among other requests, three months of severance pay per year of service. The Lodge opened and unionized with UNITE HERE Local 40 in 2020. Horizon North operates Parsnip Lodge on behalf of Coastal GasLink.
UNITE HERE Local 40 also represents camp hospitality workers at Cedar Valley Lodge and Crossroads Lodge in Kitimat. Earlier this year, workers at the two camp sites voted in favour of new collective agreements, averting strike actions. The new contacts included substantial pay increases and improved workload protections.
Mediation between the Union and the employer begins today.
Media contact: Sharan Pawa, 604-710-1693, [email protected]