CONTACT: Stephanie Fung, sfung@local40union.com, 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, mtravis@unitehere.org, 778-960-9785
As of 5:00AM Pacific Gateway Workers are on strike. Women leading strike say, “Trudeau promised a ‘Feminist Recovery’ but won’t protect the women at the hotel he controls.”
WHAT: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel members – room attendants, front desk agents, cooks, servers and more – are on strike at Pacific Gateway Hotel at Vancouver International Airport.
WHEN: Strike commences on May 3, 2021; 5:00AM
WHERE: Pacific Gateway Hotel, 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC
WHO: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers and union representatives will be available for comment.
WHY: After months of watching their employer use the pandemic to fire long-term staff and roll-back the economic security of women and immigrant workers, Pacific Gateway Hotel workers are on strike. Workers are striking over hotel management’s refusal to commit to return long-term staff to their jobs when business recovers. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promises a feminist recovery, a hotel taken over by his government is destroying living wage jobs that enabled women and immigrant workers to join the middle class.
Pacific Gateway has terminated 103 workers, 42 of them this weekend – and nearly two-thirds of those fired are women. The hotel made clear its intentions to fire all those laid-off more than 12 months – the vast majority of its pre-Covid workforce. The average Pacific Gateway worker has worked at the hotel for more than a decade; some with over forty years of service.
Workers were displaced when the federal government took over the hotel last year under a quarantine order and brought in the Red Cross to perform their duties. The federal government has extended its contract several times and has looked the other way as hard-hit workers, many of them women from the South Asian and Chinese communities, pay the price.
“Prime Minster Trudeau, I was fired this past weekend after 27 years of service. Is this what you call a feminist recovery? I have 3 girls – one in Grade 5, one in high school, and another in college. I raised them on this job. Pacific Gateway is outright attacking women and our federal government is doing nothing to stop it. You said you would prioritize women in Canada’s economic recovery — but you’ve failed us. That’s why I’m on the picket line today with women like me. We’re not going to give up on everything we worked so hard for,” said Pardeep Thandi, a room attendant who served the hotel for 27 years until she was permanently laid-off this weekend.
Hotel management is using the temporary COVID-19 crisis to propose permanent changes to undermine job security and make the work more precarious. The employer wants a 7-year contract that would reduce many workers’ hourly pay to minimum wage. That would mean as much as $2.00 to $6.50/hour less for servers, hostesses, baristas, dishwashers, and others. The employer also wants to eliminate workers’ current union health and pension benefits, force them to share tips with management, allow for subcontracting and make changes that would allow the hotel to circumvent overtime, eliminate paid time off and severance, among other cuts.
The hotel’s demands are very similar to those made by Hilton Metrotown which locked out its hotel staff earlier this month. Both hotels are represented by Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR), which issued a lockout notice last week to 1,200 hospitality workers who work at 32 other hotels, motels, and liquor establishments across British Columbia.
The federal government has given the hotel industry billions in public subsidies and other relief while the industry turns back the clock for women and racialized workers who are its backbone. Pacific Gateway Hotel, owned by Surrey-based PHI Hotel Group has taken advantage of the federal wage subsidy program, but unclear whether any workers benefitted.
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.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2021-05-03 07:32:042021-05-03 07:32:04BREAKING: Workers Strike at Vancouver Federal Quarantine Hotel Over Mass Firings, Devastating Roll-backs
On May Day, Hilton Metrotown workers worry whether they can pay their bills
Vancouver, BC — Hilton Metrotown has cut off almost 50 of its laid-off workers’ employment insurance benefits in a direct attack on its locked out and laid-off workers. This comes as the hotel’s lockout enters its third week and affects those, primarily women and people of colour, who have been out of work for months. The hotel locked out room attendants, front desk agents, banquet, and kitchen staff on April 16 after terminating 97 long-term workers. The workers are represented by UNITE HERE Local 40.
Affected workers have been cut off for nearly two weeks. The union has launched an online petition calling on federal Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and MP for Delta, to intervene and protect laid-off Hilton Metrotown workers so they don’t lose desperately needed income supports amid the third wave of the pandemic.
Workers who are locked out receive lockout pay and are not eligible for EI. However, Hilton Metrotown has begun notifying laid-off workers who should continue receiving EI that their employment benefits have been paused because of the labour dispute. This impacts workers who have not worked a shift at the hotel in more than 8 months. Most of them were laid off when the pandemic struck.
“I’m deeply hurt and angry that Hilton Metrotown cut off our EI. I’ve only worked a few shifts, and EI still wasn’t enough to make ends meet during the time I was laid off. It’s clear that they’re trying to demolish our livelihoods and ability to feed our families. First you fire workers, then you lock us out. Now you’re cutting off our legal government assistance. Hilton Metrotown, how dare you treat your loyal workers like this during a pandemic! Have you no shame?” asked Kelsey Paul, a front desk agent who has worked at the hotel for 11 years.
Last week, the City of Burnaby passed a motion in support of the locked-out workers — with one Councillor calling the hotel’s actions “despicable” — urging the hotel to end the lockout and return workers to their jobs as business resumes.
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.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2021-05-01 11:04:212021-05-01 11:04:21PRESS RELEASE: Hilton Metrotown Cuts off Hotel Workers’ Employment Insurance; Shameful Attack on Women and Racialized Workers’ During COVID Crisis
UNITE HERE Local 40 is the voice of 50,000 hospitality workers across British Columbia. They are housekeepers, bellmen, food servers, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders and many other employees in the tourism and food service industries.
Local 40 has a proud history of community involvement and a strong commitment to improving working conditions, wages, and benefits for all workers.
Local 40 is presently seeking an Administrative Assistant. This position reports to the Office Director and is a probationary term leading to a permanent position.
Description: ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Job Responsibilities (include but are not limited to the following):
Complete multiple responsibilities on a daily basis
Written and verbal communications with members, staff and employers
Organize and schedule appointments/meetings
Assistance with coordinating special events and projects
Book travel arrangements
Submit and reconcile expense reports
Answering incoming telephone calls and retrieving daily messages
Maintain filing system
Order office supplies and research new deals and suppliers
Generate necessary reports as required
Other duties as assigned
Job Requirements/Qualifications: The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
2 3 years experience in related field
Knowledge of office management systems and procedures
Proficiency in Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, Access; Mac & PC
Working knowledge of office equipment; e.g., printers, fax machines, and copiers
Demonstrated excellent organizational skills and high capacity for attention to details.
Passionate belief in the importance of trade unions for raising the quality of life for working people
Desire to contribute to the labour movement’s effort to create a more just and equitable society
Proficient data entry
Excellent time management skills and the ability to prioritize work
Ability to work independently within the context of a plan
Good interpersonal and communication skills; must work well with others
Assist with company financials and ability to provide insight on how to work efficiently in a busy and fast paced environment.
Compiling reports and spreadsheets and preparing spreadsheets
Must be able to maneuver effectively through Excel using formulas, properly and accurately manage staff expense reimbursements, and have basic knowledge of employee provincial/federal laws.
Welcome newly hired employees to the organization by conducting initial orientation.
Provide payroll information by collecting time and attendance records.
Bookkeeping/accounting experience is preferable but not required.
Please submit a resume and references, along with a cover letter, to Paul Voykin at pvoykin@unitehere40.com with “Administrative Assistant Application” in the subject line. Please include your available start date in the cover letter. Position is available immediately.
Over 1200 hospitality workers in 14 cities could be locked out as early as Friday, April 30
Vancouver, BC — UNITE HERE Local 40 held a press conference today to address a 72-hour lockout notice issued by Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR), an employer group representing 32 hotels, motels, and liquor stores across BC. Over 1,200 hospitality workers and their families in 14 communities will be affected if the lockout goes into effect. Hospitality employers are refusing to commit to retain their workers—mostly women and people of colour who served their hotels for years—to get through the COVID-19 crisis.
UNITE HERE Local 40 has called on HIR to jointly request mediation and find a path forward to address the impact of the pandemic on hospitality workers and their employers.
The lockout notice comes just as the Province announced they will provide an additional $25 million in ‘circuit breaker’ grants to the hotel industry, on top of $120 million announced last week to aid the economic recovery of the tourism sector.
Without a commitment to return workers to their jobs when the COVID crisis is over, more hospitality workers will be terminated. Mass pandemic firings have been used as a threat to roll back decades of economic gains. Two weeks ago, Hilton Vancouver Metrotown locked out hotel workers after firing 97 long-term staff. These attacks on workers, primarily women and racialized workers, prompted the hotel workers union to launch the “Unequal Women” campaign to call attention to hotels that refuse to guarantee workers the right to return to their jobs as the industry recovers.
Jan Budd, a kitchen helper for 30 years at Holiday Inn & Suites Vancouver Downtown, said: “What my hotel and others in BC are doing is immoral. They aren’t respecting our years of service. Instead, they want to get rid of many of us, cut costs, and roll back our economic gains. If my hotel locks me out, it will be a big financial burden. I’m barely getting by with the few shifts I’m working now. I’m 61 and I don’t want to start all over again at minimum wage.”
Fe Taala Casas, a room attendant for 26 years at Inn at the Quay in New Westminster, said: “What did we do to deserve this? I can’t imagine what will happen if I have no work. I support my daughter who’s in college and still lives with me. We’re all working families. We just want our jobs to be there for us when it’s time to go back to work. Do they really want women like me to go back and start all over again? We won’t accept this. We have no choice but to fight back.”
Hospitality workers in these communities are affected by the lockout threat: Vancouver, Victoria, Coquitlam, Richmond, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Harrison Hot Springs, Kamloops, Castlegar, Fort St. John, Port Alberni, Mackenzie, Prince Rupert, and Fort St. John.
CONTACT: Stephanie Fung, sfung@local40union.com, 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, mtravis@unitehere.org, 778-960-9785
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.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2021-04-29 13:56:262021-04-29 13:56:26PRESS RELEASE: Hospitality Employers Threaten to Lock Out 1,200 Workers Across BC; Disproportionately Hurts Women, Racialized Workers
Over 1200 hospitality workers could be locked out this Friday, April 30
Vancouver, BC — UNITE HERE Local 40 will host a press conference today, Thursday April 29, to address a 72-hour lockout notice issued by Hospitality Industrial Relations, an employer group representing 32 hotels, motels, and liquor stores across BC. Over 1,200 hospitality workers and their families in 14 communities will be affected. Hotel employers are refusing to commit to retain their workers – mostly women and people of colour who served their hotels for years – to get through the COVID-19 crisis. The lockout notice comes just as the Province announced they will provide an additional $25 million in ‘circuit breaker’ grants to hotel operators – on top of $120 million announced last week to aid the economic recovery of the tourism sector.
WHO: Robert Demand, Executive Director, UNITE HERE Local 40, and affected hotel members.
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.
http://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.png00Michelle Travishttp://www.uniteherelocal40.org/wp-content/uploads/local40logo-300x155.pngMichelle Travis2021-04-29 08:21:362021-04-29 08:21:36Press Conference: 1,200 BC Hotel Workers Served 72-Hour Lockout Notice; UNITE HERE Local 40 to Address Hotel Industry Lockout Threat
BREAKING: Workers Strike at Vancouver Federal Quarantine Hotel Over Mass Firings, Devastating Roll-backs
CONTACT: Stephanie Fung, sfung@local40union.com, 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, mtravis@unitehere.org, 778-960-9785
As of 5:00AM Pacific Gateway Workers are on strike. Women leading strike say, “Trudeau promised a ‘Feminist Recovery’ but won’t protect the women at the hotel he controls.”
WHAT: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel members – room attendants, front desk agents, cooks, servers and more – are on strike at Pacific Gateway Hotel at Vancouver International Airport.
WHEN: Strike commences on May 3, 2021; 5:00AM
WHERE: Pacific Gateway Hotel, 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC
WHO: UNITE HERE Local 40 hotel workers and union representatives will be available for comment.
WHY: After months of watching their employer use the pandemic to fire long-term staff and roll-back the economic security of women and immigrant workers, Pacific Gateway Hotel workers are on strike. Workers are striking over hotel management’s refusal to commit to return long-term staff to their jobs when business recovers. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promises a feminist recovery, a hotel taken over by his government is destroying living wage jobs that enabled women and immigrant workers to join the middle class.
Pacific Gateway has terminated 103 workers, 42 of them this weekend – and nearly two-thirds of those fired are women. The hotel made clear its intentions to fire all those laid-off more than 12 months – the vast majority of its pre-Covid workforce. The average Pacific Gateway worker has worked at the hotel for more than a decade; some with over forty years of service.
Workers were displaced when the federal government took over the hotel last year under a quarantine order and brought in the Red Cross to perform their duties. The federal government has extended its contract several times and has looked the other way as hard-hit workers, many of them women from the South Asian and Chinese communities, pay the price.
“Prime Minster Trudeau, I was fired this past weekend after 27 years of service. Is this what you call a feminist recovery? I have 3 girls – one in Grade 5, one in high school, and another in college. I raised them on this job. Pacific Gateway is outright attacking women and our federal government is doing nothing to stop it. You said you would prioritize women in Canada’s economic recovery — but you’ve failed us. That’s why I’m on the picket line today with women like me. We’re not going to give up on everything we worked so hard for,” said Pardeep Thandi, a room attendant who served the hotel for 27 years until she was permanently laid-off this weekend.
Hotel management is using the temporary COVID-19 crisis to propose permanent changes to undermine job security and make the work more precarious. The employer wants a 7-year contract that would reduce many workers’ hourly pay to minimum wage. That would mean as much as $2.00 to $6.50/hour less for servers, hostesses, baristas, dishwashers, and others. The employer also wants to eliminate workers’ current union health and pension benefits, force them to share tips with management, allow for subcontracting and make changes that would allow the hotel to circumvent overtime, eliminate paid time off and severance, among other cuts.
The hotel’s demands are very similar to those made by Hilton Metrotown which locked out its hotel staff earlier this month. Both hotels are represented by Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR), which issued a lockout notice last week to 1,200 hospitality workers who work at 32 other hotels, motels, and liquor establishments across British Columbia.
The federal government has given the hotel industry billions in public subsidies and other relief while the industry turns back the clock for women and racialized workers who are its backbone. Pacific Gateway Hotel, owned by Surrey-based PHI Hotel Group has taken advantage of the federal wage subsidy program, but unclear whether any workers benefitted.
#BCUnequalWomen
www.bcunequalwomen.org/bc-travel-alert/
###
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.
PRESS RELEASE: Hilton Metrotown Cuts off Hotel Workers’ Employment Insurance; Shameful Attack on Women and Racialized Workers’ During COVID Crisis
For Immediate Release
May 1, 2021
On May Day, Hilton Metrotown workers worry whether they can pay their bills
Vancouver, BC — Hilton Metrotown has cut off almost 50 of its laid-off workers’ employment insurance benefits in a direct attack on its locked out and laid-off workers. This comes as the hotel’s lockout enters its third week and affects those, primarily women and people of colour, who have been out of work for months. The hotel locked out room attendants, front desk agents, banquet, and kitchen staff on April 16 after terminating 97 long-term workers. The workers are represented by UNITE HERE Local 40.
Affected workers have been cut off for nearly two weeks. The union has launched an online petition calling on federal Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough and MP for Delta, to intervene and protect laid-off Hilton Metrotown workers so they don’t lose desperately needed income supports amid the third wave of the pandemic.
Workers who are locked out receive lockout pay and are not eligible for EI. However, Hilton Metrotown has begun notifying laid-off workers who should continue receiving EI that their employment benefits have been paused because of the labour dispute. This impacts workers who have not worked a shift at the hotel in more than 8 months. Most of them were laid off when the pandemic struck.
“I’m deeply hurt and angry that Hilton Metrotown cut off our EI. I’ve only worked a few shifts, and EI still wasn’t enough to make ends meet during the time I was laid off. It’s clear that they’re trying to demolish our livelihoods and ability to feed our families. First you fire workers, then you lock us out. Now you’re cutting off our legal government assistance. Hilton Metrotown, how dare you treat your loyal workers like this during a pandemic! Have you no shame?” asked Kelsey Paul, a front desk agent who has worked at the hotel for 11 years.
Last week, the City of Burnaby passed a motion in support of the locked-out workers — with one Councillor calling the hotel’s actions “despicable” — urging the hotel to end the lockout and return workers to their jobs as business resumes.
CONTACT: Stephanie Fung, sfung@local40union.com, 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, mtravis@unitehere.org, 778-960-9785
#BCUnequalWomen
www.bcunequalwomen.org/bc-travel-alert/
###
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.
Job Opportunity: Administrative Assistant
UNITE HERE Local 40 is hiring an Admin Assistant!
UNITE HERE Local 40 is the voice of 50,000 hospitality workers across British Columbia. They are housekeepers, bellmen, food servers, cooks, dishwashers, bartenders and many other employees in the tourism and food service industries.
Local 40 has a proud history of community involvement and a strong commitment to improving working conditions, wages, and benefits for all workers.
Local 40 is presently seeking an Administrative Assistant. This position reports to the Office Director and is a probationary term leading to a permanent position.
Description: ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Job Responsibilities (include but are not limited to the following):
Job Requirements/Qualifications: The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
Please submit a resume and references, along with a cover letter, to Paul Voykin at pvoykin@unitehere40.com with “Administrative Assistant Application” in the subject line. Please include your available start date in the cover letter. Position is available immediately.
PRESS RELEASE: Hospitality Employers Threaten to Lock Out 1,200 Workers Across BC; Disproportionately Hurts Women, Racialized Workers
Over 1200 hospitality workers in 14 cities could be locked out as early as Friday, April 30
Vancouver, BC — UNITE HERE Local 40 held a press conference today to address a 72-hour lockout notice issued by Hospitality Industrial Relations (HIR), an employer group representing 32 hotels, motels, and liquor stores across BC. Over 1,200 hospitality workers and their families in 14 communities will be affected if the lockout goes into effect. Hospitality employers are refusing to commit to retain their workers—mostly women and people of colour who served their hotels for years—to get through the COVID-19 crisis.
UNITE HERE Local 40 has called on HIR to jointly request mediation and find a path forward to address the impact of the pandemic on hospitality workers and their employers.
The lockout notice comes just as the Province announced they will provide an additional $25 million in ‘circuit breaker’ grants to the hotel industry, on top of $120 million announced last week to aid the economic recovery of the tourism sector.
Without a commitment to return workers to their jobs when the COVID crisis is over, more hospitality workers will be terminated. Mass pandemic firings have been used as a threat to roll back decades of economic gains. Two weeks ago, Hilton Vancouver Metrotown locked out hotel workers after firing 97 long-term staff. These attacks on workers, primarily women and racialized workers, prompted the hotel workers union to launch the “Unequal Women” campaign to call attention to hotels that refuse to guarantee workers the right to return to their jobs as the industry recovers.
Jan Budd, a kitchen helper for 30 years at Holiday Inn & Suites Vancouver Downtown, said: “What my hotel and others in BC are doing is immoral. They aren’t respecting our years of service. Instead, they want to get rid of many of us, cut costs, and roll back our economic gains. If my hotel locks me out, it will be a big financial burden. I’m barely getting by with the few shifts I’m working now. I’m 61 and I don’t want to start all over again at minimum wage.”
Fe Taala Casas, a room attendant for 26 years at Inn at the Quay in New Westminster, said: “What did we do to deserve this? I can’t imagine what will happen if I have no work. I support my daughter who’s in college and still lives with me. We’re all working families. We just want our jobs to be there for us when it’s time to go back to work. Do they really want women like me to go back and start all over again? We won’t accept this. We have no choice but to fight back.”
Hospitality workers in these communities are affected by the lockout threat: Vancouver, Victoria, Coquitlam, Richmond, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Harrison Hot Springs, Kamloops, Castlegar, Fort St. John, Port Alberni, Mackenzie, Prince Rupert, and Fort St. John.
CONTACT: Stephanie Fung, sfung@local40union.com, 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, mtravis@unitehere.org, 778-960-9785
#BCUnequalWomen
www.bcunequalwomen.org/bc-travel-alert/
###
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.
Press Conference: 1,200 BC Hotel Workers Served 72-Hour Lockout Notice; UNITE HERE Local 40 to Address Hotel Industry Lockout Threat
Over 1200 hospitality workers could be locked out this Friday, April 30
Vancouver, BC — UNITE HERE Local 40 will host a press conference today, Thursday April 29, to address a 72-hour lockout notice issued by Hospitality Industrial Relations, an employer group representing 32 hotels, motels, and liquor stores across BC. Over 1,200 hospitality workers and their families in 14 communities will be affected. Hotel employers are refusing to commit to retain their workers – mostly women and people of colour who served their hotels for years – to get through the COVID-19 crisis. The lockout notice comes just as the Province announced they will provide an additional $25 million in ‘circuit breaker’ grants to hotel operators – on top of $120 million announced last week to aid the economic recovery of the tourism sector.
WHO: Robert Demand, Executive Director, UNITE HERE Local 40, and affected hotel members.
WHEN: Thursday, April 29, 2021
TIME: 12:30 PM Pacific Time
WHERE: Via Zoom; RSVP at https://unitehere-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_y3ByRbH2SlGYmsnHGfsZ1Q
CONTACT: Stephanie Fung, sfung@local40union.com, 604-928-7356; or Michelle Travis, mtravis@unitehere.org, 778-960-9785
#BCUnequalWomen
https://www.bcunequalwomen.org/bc-travel-alert/
###
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.