The Fight for Job Security
During the Pandemic
Hotel Workers in Vancouver Are Not Backing Down in Their Fight for Their Jobs
There are new developments in the battle of
workers in several Vancouver hotels to ensure
that as hotels reopen, workers laid off due to
the pandemic-related shutdowns retain their
jobs. Unite Here Local 40 announced on January
20 that a class action lawsuit had been filed
against the Pan Pacific Vancouver on behalf of
workers wrongfully terminated during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The case was filed by a
worker who had worked at the hotel for 24 years
until he was terminated, along with dozens of
other workers, in August 2020. At the time of filing
the workers at the Pan Pacific
were not unionized but throughout their fight
have had the support of unionized workers in
other Vancouver hotels, most represented by
Unite Here Local 40. The Pan Pacific is a
high-end hotel in the Vancouver Convention
Centre East owned by an affiliate of Westmont
Hospitality Group. Westmont is one of the
world's largest privately held hospitality
companies.
 In
a January 20 press release, Unite Here Local 40 spokesperson
Michelle Travis said, "Early in the pandemic, hotel management
concocted a plan to drastically reduce its staff from 450 workers to 80
and dismiss the rest. Instead of informing workers of their plans, the
company sent workers repeated messages delivering false hope suggesting
they intended to bring workers back. Pan Pacific began terminating
staff in batches, without cause or advance notice. The suit alleges
that the hotel did this to avoid group termination provisions in the
Employment Standards Act that requires advance notice and would trigger
larger payouts to workers. Between firings, the hotel offered workers
$250 to sign a contract taking away their regular full-time status to
become casual, on-call workers and waive their severance rights. Those
who refused to sign were among those fired."
Many of the workers are immigrants and women
with families who have worked at the hotel for
20 to 30 years or more. The union estimates
that the workers could be owed as much as $3
million if the lawsuit succeeds.
Hotel workers and other workers in the
hospitality sector, in bars, restaurants and
businesses providing services to tourists, have
been demanding throughout the disruption caused
by the pandemic, that employers and governments,
both provincial and federal, ensure that their
jobs are there for them to return to as things
reopen. This court action is part of that
ongoing fight.
On February 11 Unite Here reported that the Pan
Pacific workers had voted in favour of joining
the union.
This article was published in
Volume 8 - February 19, 2021 - No. 8
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08084.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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