Rally outside Pan Pacific Hotel, March 23,
2021.
Hotel
workers are persisting in their fight for
dignity and respect. The
latest in a series of mass rallies was held on
March 23 to bring public
attention to their demands for job security,
specifically that the
right of all hotel workers to return to their
jobs when hotels reopen
must be guaranteed. The action was held at the
Pan
Pacific Hotel where there have been three
rounds of mass firings and
200 more jobs are in danger. The
social responsibility to
protect the jobs and livelihoods of hotel
workers lies with the hotel
employers and the provincial government whose
labour laws set minimum
standards with regard to recall rights of
laid-off workers.
It
had already become apparent to workers and
their defence organizations
in the hospitality industry in March 2020 that
they were in uncharted
territory and that labour law and collective
agreement protection of
workers' jobs would not be adequate in the
situation. Workers and their
unions presented their proposals to employers
to deal with
the extraordinary situation in a manner that
protected the jobs and the
wages and working conditions of those laid
off due to the pandemic.
In most cases employers rejected all
proposals out of hand. Where
contract negotiations were taking place,
employers not only rejected
union proposals but some, including the Hilton
Metrotown, used
the "opportunity" of the pandemic to demand
concessions, including
reductions in wages, benefits, and working
conditions such as
scheduling and seniority rights.
Workers
also immediately brought their demands for
protection of their jobs to
the attention of the provincial government.
Although cabinet ministers
repeatedly refused to meet with workers, BC
Premier John Horgan
responded with a statement to a press
conference on June 3, 2020:
"We're calling on employers to do the right
thing and make
sure they're keeping their workforce intact to
the greatest extent
possible. We expect that to happen, if we need
to take steps using the
legislature to protect workers, we'll do
that."
UNITE HERE organized a 22-day hunger strike
at the provincial
legislature from August 10 to September 2, 2020 and
actions at the offices of
several government ministers in support of
their demands for guaranteed
recall rights for all workers.
On August 5, 2020 BC Minister of Labour Harry
Bains appointed labour lawyer Sandra Banister to conduct a
"Review of the Unionized
Hotel Sector in Relation to the Impacts of
COVID-19." She presented her
report on August 24.[1]
Her
mandate, which specifically prohibited her
making any
recommendations, was to "determine what steps
are being taken by
employers and unions in the BC hotel sector
to confront the issues
raised by recall in the face of the prolonged
business impacts of the
COVID-19 emergency, and to consult with
unions, employers and the
relevant sectoral organizations to gauge their
reactions to an
amendment
to the Employment Standards Act (ESA)
regulations proposed by UNITE HERE to respond
to the impact of COVID-19 on recall rights."
Banister presented the evidence provided by
the unions which clearly
showed the need to amend the ESA, and reported
that the unions
"supported government intervention to ensure
unionized workers will be
returned to their jobs with their seniority
intact when the sector
recovers and that non-union workers in the
sector share that
protection."
She also reported that the hotel owners and
their associations opposed
any change to the ESA which would extend
workers' recall rights, which
they claimed would represent unwarranted
government interference with
bargaining and create a dangerous precedent
for future bargaining
disputes.
She
reported that with regard to union proposals
on pandemic-related recall
provisions, "UNITE HERE advises the employers
responded by demanding
permanent changes to the collective agreement
to roll the contract back
to non-union Employment Standards levels,
particularly with respect to:
hours of work, workload protections,
scheduling,
statutory holidays, vacations, severance pay,
and the ability of
managers to perform bargaining unit work."
The government's response to the report was
contained in a press
release issued by Labour Minister Bains on
August 31 in which he said,
"[...] after careful consideration of all the
facts and in light of the
complex collective bargaining landscape
outlined in the report, I have
decided the best course of action is to
refrain from interfering in the
collective bargaining process. [...]
Government will not be overriding
existing collective agreements and the
bargaining now under way in the
hotel sector, including negotiations involving
UNITE HERE Local 40 and
other unions."
The Minister made no comment on what the
report had to say regarding
the proposal of UNITE HERE that the ESA should
be amended to provide
for extended recall rights for all workers,
not just those in the
hospitality industry, in light of the
pandemic.
On
September 1, Bains further stated that any
economic recovery package
would contain "a pledge for employers to offer
a right of first refusal
to existing employees when work resumes." In
other words, it would be
up to the employers to "do the right thing."
Then, on September 17, the
government introduced its "economic recovery"
package, which contained no provisions
whatsoever to protect workers'
job security or conditions of work.
While uttering hollow words of sympathy for
the thousands of workers
who have been impacted, the government has
totally refused to uphold
its social responsibility to BC workers.
Instead, they have handed over
billions to private enterprises in various
pay-the-rich schemes and
permitted and facilitated the anti-worker
actions of the hotel
employers which serve only their private
interests, showing that the
workers cannot rely on the cartel party system
to defend their
interests, and the need for renewal of the
democracy and people's
empowerment.
Hotel workers and others, including the
teachers at International
Language Schools Canada (ILSC)-Vancouver,
are persisting in their
fight for justice and recall rights, and in
doing so are defending the
rights and dignity of all workers. Workers'
Forum calls on everyone to stand with
them in their courageous fight.
It should be illegal for employers to fire
workers and deprive them
of the benefits and working conditions that
they have achieved, just to
satisfy the greedy anti-worker aims of their
employers. The government
must immediately act to amend the ESA to
extend recall rights for all
workers and make it a criminal offence to use
the pandemic to
attack workers' rights.
Note
1. A
Review of the Unionized Hotel Sector in
Relation to the Impacts of COVID-19,
Sandra I. Banister, Q.C.,
August 24, 2020.
This article was published in
April 9, 2021 - No. 26
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08263.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
