UNITE HERE Canada tells House Committee: airport authorities need reform

Imagine if a business could set its own property tax rate, develop land without having to obtain local approvals and could operate without having to answer to our elected officials.  Would we want a business like this in our community?  Well, look no further than our own Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR).

Some years back, the federal government partially privatized operations of major Canadian airports, including YVR and Victoria International Airport.  The government granted airport authorities with many powers but little oversight and accountability over how they operate.

Today, the federal government is reviewing whether to fully privatize airports.  YVR says this would threaten local control and community input.  Yet, YVR doesn’t listen to our community now!  YVR can self-assess the taxes they pay to the City of Richmond, raise airport user fees at will, carry out land development projects without local approvals, and turn a deaf ear to workers’ concerns.  If airport authorities aren’t accountable to our elected officials, how accountable are they going be to low-wage airport workers?

UNITE HERE Canada presents at House Finance Committee’s pre-budget consultation in Vancouver.

We think it is time to change the way airport authorities work with our communities.  We don’t want privatization and we don’t want the status quo.

In October, UNITE HERE Canada appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to call for federal reform of airport governance and made several recommendations to make airport authorities more accountable to workers and to our cities.   We want real accountability from YVR and other major airport authorities so that they contribute their fair share, coordinate with our local municipalities, and engage meaningfully with airport workers.

Is YVR Airport Sustainable for Workers?

Behind the counters at North America’s #1 airport    

YVR is ranked the #1 airport in North America.  Yet, too many airport concession workers juggle two jobs to make ends meet and work in challenging conditions.  Worse, YVR can upend hard-won wage and benefit gains made by unionized concession workers when flipping contracts to non-union operators.

“I’m exhausted all the time because I have to work two jobs.  If I could have one job with a decent wage, I could contribute to my community, do some volunteering in Richmond.  I can’t do that because I’m running from one job to another to pay the bills,” says Fipe Wong, a cook employed by HMSHost.

YVR outsources food and retail concessions to several operators – including HMSHost, which operates Canucks Bar & Grill, Starbucks, Palomino’s, Tim Hortons, and other franchises – and keeps a portion of the revenues.  YVR brings in more concession revenues, per passenger, than any other airport in North America, yet concession workers are being squeezed to work harder for less.

This fall, YVR concession workers are taking two important steps to end the race to the bottom and make these good, family-supporting jobs:

  • Unionized concession workers at HMSHost are fighting back.  The company wants to create more part-time, insecure jobs and wants workers to be on call seven days a week, yet still consider them “part-time”.   Host also wants to make it harder for workers to have health insurance.  Workers are in bargaining for higher pay, better access to medical benefits, and full-time work for those who want to maximize their hours.
  • Workers are also asking Vancouver Airport Authority to step up and do what other major airport authorities across North America have done – adopt wage and worker retention policies to mitigate the impact of contract flipping on displaced workers.

Together, concession workers are paving the way for decent jobs at the nation’s second largest airport.

Stay tuned for upcoming actions, and let us know if you want to get involved!  HMSHost workers will return to the bargaining table in mid-November.  If you are a community supporter and want to learn more about working conditions at YVR, come and meet our airport members.  For more information, contact Mike Biskar at [email protected].

Workers protest Westin Bayshore’s “green” program which hurts hotel housekeepers

Part of Hospitality Workers’ Day of Action across Canada and the U.S.

 

This Thursday, hotels workers held an action at the Westin Bayshore to draw attention to how the company’s “Make a Green Choice” program leads to lost hours and income for workers, dirtier rooms, heavier workloads, and more chemicals being used on the job.

This is part of UNITE HERE ‘s day of action in which tens of thousands of hospitality workers are participating in demonstrations across 40 cities in Canada and the U.S.  Today’s actions include strikes, rallies, public announcements of union organizing campaigns, and worker delegations to call for justice at work.

In Vancouver, hotel workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 40, protested and organized a delegation to Westin demanding that the Marriott chain end the use of the program.

Workers say the “Green Choice” program is a way for hotels to cut workers’ hours rather than conserve energy.  Under this “green” program, guests are incentivized with a $5 coupon to decline housekeeping for the day.  However, housekeepers report the dark side of the program:  their hours are cut from the schedule – causing a loss of income – and their workloads become heavier.  Rooms left unattended for several days can take three times as long to clean, and hotel housekeepers say they must use extra chemicals to clean these rooms.

Under the guise of the “Green Choice” program, the Westin Bayshore saves money at the expense of hotel housekeepers, primarily women, who see their jobs become more unpredictable and precarious.

Meanwhile, in Toronto this week, UNITE HERE Local 75 partnered with Oxfam Canada’s Shortchanged Campaign to call attention to hotel housekeepers’ working conditions across Canada and around the globe.  To view the video, see: https://www.facebook.com/OxfamCanada/videos/10155665228744277/

Today, women are leading the fight to create more sustainable jobs in the hotel industry!

 

Local 40 represents thousands of hospitality workers in the Lower Mainland and across BC.  The Local is an affiliate of UNITE HERE which represents over 270,000 members working in the hotel, food service, gaming and related industries. 

Vancouver Fairbnb Members Release Report on Platform Accountability

Broad Vancouver coalition calls on the City to hold Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms accountable for illegal listings

Vancouver – A Vancouver-based coalition representing workers, tenants, landlords, housing advocates, and hospitality providers has joined forces to demand that the City of Vancouver hold short-term rental platforms directly accountable for illegal listings. The local groups are affiliated with Fairbnb.ca, Canada’s national coalition advocating for fair rules for short-term rentals.

Fairbnb.ca’s Vancouver members include: Mole Hill Housing Society, Generation Squeeze, LandlordBC, Vancouver Tenant’s Union, Homes not Hotels, Bed & Breakfast Innkeeper’s Guild, the Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative Society and UNITE HERE! Local 40.

During today’s press conference, the Coalition urged the City to address weaknesses in its currently proposed short-term rental regulations which will come before Council this fall. The press conference was timed with the release of Fairbnb.ca’s new report, Accountable at the Source: Why Platform Accountability Can’t Be Left out of Vancouver’s Short-Term Rental Regulation.

Local 40 member, hotel worker Jonathan Milne was one of the speakers at the press conference outside Vancouver City Hall, along with Quentin Wright of Mole Hill Community Housing, David Hutniak of LandlordBC, Liam McLure of the Vancouver Tennant’s Union, and Tom de Grey of the SRO Collaborative.

Download the Report Here: http://fairbnb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Fairbnb_Platform-Accountability_final.pdf

Media Contact: Octavian Cadabeschi at 604-813-2105 or [email protected].